Shuttle Musings

Mood music

It still gives me a thrill to see that amazing display of human engineering climbing to space atop a column of flame. I was sitting on the bank of the Indian River on the morning of April 12, 1981 watching the very first shuttle mission, STS-1. I remember where I was when Challenger exploded. And Columbia. We have seen humans standing on the Moon. We were able to watch live as one of our creations actually landed on Mars. There are probes gathering astounding information from the outer reaches of our solar system. There is a space station orbiting our planet. A space station. Think about that for a moment.

As a child I marveled at the night sky, recognizing it for what it was; the vastness of the universe expanding to infinity around us. I fantisized about travelling in space. Science fiction has entrenched the ideas of interstellar travel firmly in our collective psyche. And here we are, extending our trembling fingers into the unknown, reaching for the unknown, trying desperately to know.

There are many things happening in the world, some horrible and some beautiful. Human creativity, imagination and determination gave us the opportunity to actually see the entirety of our planet and it is humbling.

Link: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html