I'm struck by the extreme contrasts in this mission. For me, it is the first launch that I will be attending and the first launch that I will be documenting personally and directly. For thousands of NASA employees, each milestone brings another, "this is the last time we will..." Every day, they complete tasks in preparation for the launch of STS-135 Atlantis that will never be done again. It's sad to think that so many of these highly skilled and dedicated people will be out of a job after this mission. It all makes this mission very important. This mission honors everyone who ever worked on any aspect of the US space program. All the way from Goddard and Von Braun to everyone involved in STS-135. That's something to celebrate this Independence Day weekend! So while my first launch is going to be the last launch, I am hopeful that NASA will continue to boldly go where no one has gone before.
This isn't the end of human spaceflight, the ISS is fully operational and doing some really great science and sending inspiring tweets and photos daily. This weekend, the ISS orbit and clear skies over New York have made some absolutely beautiful fly-overs. When I took the kids out Thursday night, it reminded me of when I was about their age and I went out to watch for the Apollo-Soyuz flyovers one summer. That dot of light was the sign if six human lives flying 230 miles above earth at 17500 mph!
No comments:
Post a Comment