God speed, Endeavour
It doesn't appear the national media has covered it at all (a brief scan of CNN's website this morning revealed, among other headlines, "Sexually suspect panda has twins"), so some of my readers as well as the public at large may be unaware that an historic space shuttle launch went off yesterday without a hitch. Not only was I there to witness it (my first ever space launch, an historical occasion in and of itself), but more importantly, among the crew was teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan. Morgan was Christa McAuliffe's alternate on the Challenger mission that came to a horribly tragic early conclusion in January 1986. She returned in 1998 intent on finishing the mission of getting an educator into space, and yesterday that dream came to fruition. The mission is also critical to the completion of the International Space Station.
Space exploration in most of our lifetimes has failed to captivate the way it did during the Apollo program, when we were sending people to other worlds. But the importance of the space program in those years and since cannot be overlooked for the scientific achievements it has afforded and will continue to offer. Even if the nation and world at large seems largely apathetic, I am proud to say that I for one have witnessed first-hand what commitment and ambition can accomplish.
God speed, Endeavour.
(Of course, this wasn't the only historical event of the past few days, and the other will also receive its due attention on this blog, when I have more time.)
Song lyric of the day:
"Sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do"
- David Bowie, Space Oddity
Space exploration in most of our lifetimes has failed to captivate the way it did during the Apollo program, when we were sending people to other worlds. But the importance of the space program in those years and since cannot be overlooked for the scientific achievements it has afforded and will continue to offer. Even if the nation and world at large seems largely apathetic, I am proud to say that I for one have witnessed first-hand what commitment and ambition can accomplish.
God speed, Endeavour.
(Of course, this wasn't the only historical event of the past few days, and the other will also receive its due attention on this blog, when I have more time.)
Song lyric of the day:
"Sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do"
- David Bowie, Space Oddity
2 Comments:
That's fantastic. I've never seen a shuttle launch, and I can't wait until the day that I get to. I do have a slightly different perspective on NASA from most of the country. It's so rare that you see anyone write anything positive about NASA these days, even in the blogs. Times have changed since the Apollo days. Thank you for continuing to see the wonder.
I can only assume that the other historical event is Rove's retirement? Or the Nats' awesome come-from-five-runs-down win over the D-backs for which I was fortunate enough to be in the right-field bleachers? Or possibly Reading's scoreless draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford?
I also heard some dude with a big head hit a home run or something, but I doubt you're referring to that...
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