I grew up during the last few years of the Apollo missions. In grade school, they brought a TV into the room to watch one of the moon launches. I used to write to the various NASA locations (Cape Canaveral, JPL, Marshall Space Flight Center) and they would send me glossy photos taken by various space probes and missions, maps and printed materials. Really, they sent me a ton of cool stuff for free. I loved space science and was seriously interested in all things related to space.
To this day, I get a buzz whenever a shuttle mission is in orbit. It just thrills me to know that men and women are working in space. Of course, since we started permanent occupancy of the International Space Station, there's been someone up there 24/7 for years now. But I find it especially thrilling when the shuttle is involved in a station construction project, adding to the size, capability and complexity of the orbiting outpost.
Tonight, a mere three weeks after the last mission landed, Endeavour is launching. Astronauts will add the first section of the Japanese Kibo orbiting laboratory and put together a robot which will aid in station maintenance. It will be the longest space station mission ever and will include five spacewalks!
And for the next 16 days, I'll be just a little bit happier, knowing they're up there, moving humanity into the future step by step.
1 comment:
I agree with you. I just wished the media covered the shuttle launches more; I don't even know when they have gone up.
It's amazing in some ways how routine space flight has become (with the caveat that the shuttle is still a very dangerous endeavor). I recently read a biography of Neil Armstrong and the complexity of going to and landing on the moon in the late sixties is truly amazing, given the technology that existed then. It makes the accomplishment even more incredible; frankly, at the time it happened, we sort of took it for granted because NASA made it look so easy.
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