3-2-1 Blastoff
The Endeavour has just blasted off into space, the space shuttle's last mission. Much to my surprise, I'm a bit melancholic about the whole thing.
I grew up in the Central Valley of California and my parochial school used to take field trips to Edwards AFB to watch the shuttles land. We'd all be parked out in the great desert, waiting forever for the shuttle to land. And it was so cool! Not just the shuttle landing but I remember seeing Ricky Schroeder on one occasion. Do you have any idea how impressive that was for a little girl in the early 1980s?
And, of course, the Challenger explosion. As an incredibly nerdy elementary school student, I was already into presidential rhetoric and I can almost recite President Reagan's speech that night by heart.
A few years ago, a friend of my husband's family was piloting an Atlantis mission. We had just had our oldest child and headed down to Florida's space coast to watch. Even though we were there for a full week, we didn't get to see the launch. There's a lot of hurry up and wait with these launches, I learned.
The Endeavour was supposed to take off weeks ago but it finally made it, led by mission commander Mark Kelly, the husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. We wish them well and a safe return.
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Apr '11
Re: 3-2-1 Blastoff
I remember being in junior high school when I first heard about the Challenger explosion. They had an assembly so we could all talk about it. My thoughts on the subject were, "Crap, now the grownups are going to talk about nothing else for days on end... BOOOring!"
Mar '11
Re: 3-2-1 Blastoff
I grew up in Brevard County and vaguely remember watching the Challenger blow up when I was 3. Although I don't remember saying this, I told my mom I thought something was wrong and of course she just thought I was jumping to conclusions. I think after Elementary school I stopped carrying about watching launches except night launches, which are gorgeous to watch in Titusville.However, it was not worth waking up early in the morning to watch the few that would go up in the dark. Our house would start shaking and it would be like oh a launch is going off lets go see the rest of the launch.
Although I would hate being startled from a sound sleep in the middle of night from the sonic boom when the shuttle would land. Even during the day you would jump because it would be so sudden.
Edited on May 16, 2011 at 10:28amJan '11
Re: 3-2-1 Blastoff
When I was a kid, space was the coolest thing. I grew up when a space shot was a TV event. Apollo 11 was like a national holiday; everyone stopped what they were doing to watch it. In those days, science fiction was all about space. Half of the shows on TV had something to do with space: Star Trek, Lost in Space, I Dream of Jeannie, etc.
My kids couldn't care less about space.
We're like the characters from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (next to the Bible, the best explanation of life) who never look UP.
Jun '10
Re: 3-2-1 Blastoff
One of my bigger regrets over the last few years is my failure to get my kids down to a launch. A couple of years ago, we were on fall break in Orlando the week of a scheduled launch - Atlantis I think - the mission to perform the final fix / positioning of Hubble. That launch was ultimately delayed for many months. My boys love watching the launches on television, and my oldest (in my opinion) has the interest and aptitude to really dig into the science of space travel (he was fascinated by the Mars rovers). I still have hopes that he'll look into JPL someday.
We'll probably miss the final shuttle launches as well. But perhaps someday we can get down to witness the launch of ... well ... something.
May '10
Re: 3-2-1 Blastoff
Train. Just like 1804.
Jul '10
Re: 3-2-1 Blastoff
Cal Lawton
· May 16 at 8:58am
Well... something....
Jul '10
Re: 3-2-1 Blastoff
Sorry, but this post reminds Me of a certain video.....