The Last Space Shuttle

If you go to www.news12.com right now - it's 8:30 AM here in Iselin as I'm watching it - you can watch as the Space Shuttle Atlantis prepares for their final launch. They are scheduled to launch at 11:26 for a 12 day mission, the very last mission they have planned for space shuttles. But most people are only giving them a 30% chance of actually launching today. The weather isn't expected to cooperate, in which case I guess they'll have to try a different day.
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I went down to Florida when my kids were little, and yes, we had a great time at Disney, but the best part of the trip, and the most memorable for my geeky family, was watching the shuttle lift off. On that mission, the lift off was scheduled for very late at night. We drove out to the side of the road, across the water somewhere from the launch pad. (We had analyzed all the maps to figure out our best location.) We were all so excited! It was just exactly like going out to watch fireworks... we brought snacks and folding chairs and blankets and waited for the show...except that the launch was scrubbed that night. But we were on vacation and we really wanted to see it, so we went back for the next night. And it was scrubbed again. It was cancelled three or four nights in a row, and we went back each night so we wouldn't miss it.

On the last possible night that we would have been able to go, the countdown finally started and the launch went off as scheduled. And I never expected the emotional and physical feelings that flooded over me. It started with the rumble in my chest from the intense sound waves of the rocket fuel burning. It was a beautiful sight, something like a single lit candle being lifted up to the stars. It was also a bit scary, as we thought about the times that the missions were not successful... dreading the possibility that you could see something malfunction, even though it seemed that the possibility was very slight, or they would cancel the mission again. I'm not usually an emotional person, but it brought tears to my eyes, which was something I never expected.

There is also a good article on NPR, HERE, if you are interested.

Best wishes to the last shuttle.  It's sorry to think that it's all a part of history now, and not the future of the space program... but hopefully we will be moving on to bigger and better things?