A few hours ago, the space shuttle Atlantis began her final journey into the heavens. And as the craft roared to life on the back of more then a million pounds of thrust and went trans-sonic, I watched in amazement as once again-albeit for the final time, this machine carried four more brave legends into the surly bonds of the unforgiving black, in a quest for that hopefully will never end.
The shuttle program has been around longer then me, so naturally I grew up watching launch after launch on TV.
The vehicles, Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor were simply...marvels. These were not simply vehicles propelled by rocket fuel. They were the ark into the great unknown, they were our generations Columbus fleet, seeking out new lands in which to advance human ingenuity.
The fact that the shuttle is the most complex piece of machinery built by humanity is astounding. I can't even begin to fathom how a human mind could control something so complicated. I once read that each shuttle orbiter has more then 200 miles of wiring in it. For something that's smaller then the Statue of Liberty, that's mighty impressive. This is one of the many things compel me and astound me about not just the shuttle, but the space program itself.
Some may mock the shuttle program, others may call it too costly, but to those naysayers I ask you to look into the eyes of any...everyone of the million people down on the humid Florida beaches today, anyone watching on television, anyone crowded around a radio what they think and I guarantee you that your cynical view will be met with true and unbridled optimism and hope.
You see, its not just rocket fuel that fired those shuttles into orbit, its the hard work of millions, yes I said millions of people...be it the people who work on the landing gear in North Carolina, the ones who work on the rocket boosters in Utah or the folks in California who work on the heat tiles that are vital to keeping the shuttle intact in the crushing pressures of space...and the intense heat of re-entry.
NASA and The space shuttle program aren't just line items in the U.S. budget, they're the blood, sweat, tears and determination of this countries people.
For every kid staring out their telescope in their backyard to the ones damn near blowing their hands off with model rockets in a field(guilty), the U.S. Space program is more. It's about dreams coming true. Thats one of the key things i've learned watching the shuttle program mature over the years, its that dreams do come true, especially if you put your all into it.
The shuttles broke not just the sound barrier but the color and gender barrier, showing that in space, it didn't matter if you were female or male, it didn't matter if you were black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Jewish, or whatever...all that mattered was your imagination, drive and determination, which is the way it should be here on the ground.
The shuttle program helped erase a cold war and joined rivals not in conflict, but in the exploration for a better tomorrow.
The shuttle program, these people with their sheer grit put a nation on its back and pushed through unimaginable tragedies to give us hope and to let us dream. We should never forget that. They use the term "Godspeed" a lot in liftoffs. It means to wish for success and fortune for one setting out on an adventure. And what an adventure it has been.
When that adventure concludes about 2 weeks from now, it will not be an ending, it will simply be a page turned in the never ending story of our desire to explore and dream.