Space Shuttle Discovery

On Sunday night Sam and I unexpectedly saw the Space Shuttle launch. We were out for a walk and coming back to the house about 8 pm. There was a crowd of about a dozen people standing around on the street in front of our unit. They were watching the sky and told us the shuttle was launching and that we would be able to see it, so we waited around. One man had the radio on in his car with the door open and we could hear the radio announcer talking about the launch. Suddenly we saw the shuttle and it looked like a fire with a smoke trail in the sky, speeding at a 45 degree angle across the sky. We watched it for a few minutes, and very soon it was completely out of the earth's orbit and out of our sight. Although we have seen the shuttle launch on TV, it was an amazing feeling to watch it live in the sky.

The shuttle program apparently is going to be discontinued in 2010. This launch was postponed several times over the past month, with mechanical difficulties being the main cause. There is talk that the shuttles are wearing out, so perhaps that's why the program is being discontinued. It's an all male crew on this mission, and for three of the astronauts, it's their first time in space. The shuttle is docking at the international space station and will be there for 13 days before returning. I think they are doing repairs there. As I stood and watched that tiny dot flame across the sky I thought of the families of those men, how proud and scared they must feel at the same time. What an adventure!