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| The First |
Last night I was reminded that one of the last three Space Shuttle missions had just taken place. I was born on the day the first Space Shuttle was launched. On April 12, 1981, Columbia launched from Cape Canaveral. And I was born in a small town in Texas. Which means in a little less then a month the Space Shuttle Program will be 30 years old. There are two remaining missions, you can find out about them here.
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| The Last |
The Space Shuttle was a symbol of the entire space program for most of my life, and for good reason. This was the first space going vessel that was sleek. Apollo may have been the famous one, but NASA's vehicles in the 60s' and 70's always looked to me like someone had made them in their basement. The other symbols of our space program in my life, the Hubble and the International Space Station. Maybe the Voyager probes. I don't think there's really been any others.
Columbia was the shuttle I considered to be mine growing up. I was stationed in Kosovo with the U.S. Army when Columbia exploded on re-entry on February 1st, 2003. I was very paranoid that day about everything. You may call it superstitious, but I figured there was no sense taking chances that day.
So we're rapidly approaching the end of an era. In July we will say good-bye to the Space Shuttle, the remaining shuttles will be taken to museums and become as much a thing of the past as the Saturn Rockets, and Sputnik.
I wonder if NASA would let me ride on the last one, surely it'd make for good PR, if nothing else...
I got to go find a number I'll talk to you later.
