The Shuttle Launch

A week or so ago, I was up early and for the first and probably last time in my lifetime, I saw a night shuttle launch from my window on the west coast of Florida. STS 131 was the last scheduled night launch before the space shuttle program ended, and I was watching on television and also on my computer. Since one was time delayed, I got to see the lift-off twice. Little did I realize I'd see it in real time, but there it was outside my top floor window.......a very bright rocket plume to the east-northeast, rising steadily on a column of flame.

Naturally, I didn't think to grab my camera as I was frankly spellbound at the majesty - we're talking over a hundred miles distance at least. I did have the presence of mind afterward to snap this shot of the contrail left in the sky as dawn broke over the east coast of Florida. The winds aloft had dissipated the straight line of progress of the exhaust trail, but I was lucky to catch the morning sun turning the white into coral color downrange from the Cape Kennedy launch pad.

Hopefully, the 2010 elections will change the Congress somewhat and renew interest in keeping this magnificent shuttle flying. Paying the Russians to transport our astronauts in their "Spam in a Can" space capsules makes no sense, but of course a lot of what this current administration does makes no sense. I guess its just another fallout of the steady decline of America and its leadership, on the planet as well as above it. Keep in mind, the shuttle is not that old compared to some flight systems. The B-52 is still flying, and it first flew in the 1950's. The DC-3 (C-47 military version) was developed in the middle 1930's, and still safely transports people and freight in the undeveloped nations of the world. Old is relative.........or maybe it's just my upcoming 63rd birthday next week that makes me feel obsolescence is a state of mind, as long as the body cooperates. May our shuttle fleet never be put to rest before we have a decent replacement, and it isn't a Soyuz capsule.