I used this pic on my first post a while back, but I have a great reason to bring it back! I'm ... well, you read the title already. I'm so excited!!!
From my website header, you can probably tell that I'm interested in space. A major part of my childhood revolved around Star Trek (TNG is my favorite) and reading / watching 3-2-1 Contact, which featured tons of space stories.
One of my favorite classes as a kid was an astronomy summer program I attended at the local community college. And of course, there was the Space Camp essay contest that I was erroneously disqualified from for cheating that I'm TOTALLY not bitter about anymore.
Well, the past is in the past! Like many science folk, I follow NASA on Twitter. Recently they tweeted out that they were holding a Tweetup at Kennedy Space Center, and that they would select 150 random followers to attend events culminating in watching the launch from the closest possible distance with the press!
I was selected. I am lucky. More than that, I am honored to be able to witness history. Sending men to space is truly one of mankind's greatest feats. I get a front row seat to the second to last shuttle launch.
I'll leave you with this excerpt from my first blog post (that I'll have to edit soon because it'll be out of date!)
Today was the final launch of Discovery. I have never been to a shuttle launch, but I felt a part of the action today thanks to SpaceFlight Now's live coverage. People may have become used to Shuttle launches, but think about - we've developed a reusable peace of technology that's been active for over 40 years. That's pretty amazing. There has been human loss, but considering the amount of shuttle launches performed by NASA, it has been a successful use of technology.
The closest that I've been to a shuttle was the Enterprise at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. If you haven't been and you have any positive thoughts about planes, I would strongly recommend that you visit. In addition to the Enterprise, they also have a Concorde, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, and the Enola Gay. I spent a day after a business trip in Reston, VA walking around the facility and came away impressed with the collection.
Some day I'll make it to a shuttle launch!