this time.It's a really slow day at work today, which for once I'm happy about. I was able to watch Atlantis lift off for the last time. I remember watching Columbia launch the space shuttle era. I remember that I watched as many of the first five or ten shuttle launches as I could. I know that at some point I started having the same feeling most of us seem to have had - even though they didn't launch all that often, space shuttle launches were routine. They were safe. We had done it - we could send people into space and bring them back whenever we had the money and will to do so. If we missed one launch, we could always see the next one.
I also remember when that little delusion was shattered. I was in high school when we lost Challenger. Even though one of my favorite teachers was our state's representative to the Teacher in Space program and was at the launch, our school didn't think we all needed to be watching on tv. Of course, that quickly changed as rumors started spreading through the cafeteria, and we all knew something was really wrong when my social studies teacher was sprinting down the hall pushing a tv cart. Then we all couldn't stop watching tv. I'll never forget hearing the first-hand accounts from our teacher of what it was like to be there for that tragedy.
But we moved on. Eventually, the shuttles flew again. The first launch after Challenger was nerve-wracking in a way even the very first Columbia launch wasn't. Honestly, I was never again able to watch a shuttle launch without nervously wondering whether or not I was going to see that horrible big white puffball again - even today's. But they all made it up. Every one of them. Then, of course, we got reminded again that just because the shuttle gets up safely doesn't mean it's going to come back again, and we lost Columbia.
But again, we moved on. Eventually, the shuttles flew again. Today, Atlantis lifted off for the last time. My five-year-old is incredibly sad that there will be no more space shuttle flights. No more manned flights from the U.S. of any kind, at least not for awhile. She's hoping we go to Mars next. I hope so, too. I hope we go somewhere, because human spaceflight is too exciting and too inspiring for us to just abandon it.
In the meantime, the shuttle program isn't over yet. Not until Atlantis comes home.
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