Space...

Today was a somewhat sad day for all those who grew up wanting to be an astronaut. Today was the last launch of the Shuttle Discovery. There are only two more launches left for the history of the shuttle program, one each for Atlantis and Endeavor. Then what? Sure, there will be rocket launches, but who knows when we'll have the 'new technology' in place to put man back into space. I feel like we're taking quite a step back here.

As a kid who grew up on the Space Coast, this is a huge deal! I watched (and felt!) so many launches from my front yard. And I was just recently reminded of the "Shuttle Launch Fire Drills" that schools would have so kids could go out and watch the launch live, too. Sure, you could watch in on TV, but why do that when you can see it live? As a kid, you were more excited to see the vapor trail than you were to hear mission control's jibber-jabber. I never realized how cool it was t be able to do this until I move away...

Then there's the disasters that happened that scared us away from space - Challenger and Columbia. I saw the Challenger explode, live and first hand - I was watching it from Kennedy Space Center. My class was on a field trip there. There I was, snapping pictures on my 110 film camera, and I had no idea I was taking pictures of such a historic moment (I ended up with 5 or 6 sequential pictures of the whole thing). It wasn't until after they herded us back onto the buses that they explained what really happened. It was one of those moments I will never forget, as long as I live. Even if I didn't have the pictures. So many people kept making quiet comments like, "Maybe they parachuted out to safety." No... no such miracle. So Challenger thought NASA to do a very detailed check before every launch. Unfortunately, they didn't catch the importance of the post launch and pre-re-entry check until Columbia. I remember watching that unfold on TV. I felt like I was reliving my 4th grade field trip.

But those are lessons learned. Do we need to change the shuttle program and design. Sure - it's always good to constantly improve upon what you already have. I think it's a mistake to stop all together while technology is improved upon, though. Especially when you have the "rich, private sector" doing their own thing to get man into space.. rich men/women, anyway. But the kid who dreamed of being an astronaut and would only have the chance by going to school and training all his/her life for it.. not likely.

I know there are promises of continued funding for the space program... but it will never be the same. Maybe the answer is the private sector... but in the means of funding, only, not the research, itself. I fear my children will never see man going into space - at lease not the same way I did, from US soil. And that is just a sad thought to have.