I watched the liftoff of the space shuttle Discovery this morning with tears welling in my eyes. I have always been fascinated by space exploration. I remember when I was a very young girl, perhaps just four or five years old standing outside looking up at the moon and realizing that there were men walking around up there.
When Columbia lifted off heralding the beginning of the Space Shuttle program in April of 1981, I was in front of the TV watching the events unfold.
I was thrilled to be able to attend an event were astronaut "Pinky" Nelson spoke on the importance of education. I met Dr. Nelson again a few years later while in college.
I was a senior in high school when Challenger came to its sad end; I'll never forget what class I was in and who told me the news.
I was in the Marshall Islands when Discovery returned to flight in September of 1988. I had my ear pressed to my small short wave radio listening to the events on Voice of America while my Canadian roommate just shook her head. She had no idea why that event was so special to me.
On that Saturday morning, Feb. 1st in 2003 when Columbia was in trouble, my husband woke me to tell me the news. I was devastated.
And so now I am elated that Discovery once again is in orbit. You can be sure that I will keep NASA's website up and the streaming video going as much as I can to eavesdrop on the goings on of the mission. I feel like I'm the spider on the wall, and I'm excited.
I got up early this morning to watch the astronauts be helped into the shuttle. Tony was right there with me asking so many questions that it was hard to hear Shuttle Launch Control announcers describe what was going on. But I figure this to be a really good education. Even now Tony is playing with his blocks lifting off his "space shuttle" over and over again.
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