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| ‘Merica, dammit! |
The United States is now back in the manned space launch business, thanks to SpaceX. I just watched a perfect launch and insertion into orbit of the Falcon 9/Crew Dragon. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are now into their 19 hour chase-down of the ISS.
I remember a young boy sitting on the floor of the living room watching Gemini missions launch, and a slightly older boy watching Apollo launches on the floor of the gym. I remember staying up late to watch Neil Armstrong take that “One small step” and I remember the dismay when the remaining Apollo launches were canceled. I remember the trials and triumphs of Skylab. I remember walking out of a college classroom to find out we had lost a space shuttle, and years latter coming in from yardwork to find out we had lost another. I remember the anger at the cancelation of our manned space program.
That young boy is grinning from ear to ear, while the old man he has become has a tear of joy in his eye. We’re a space-faring nation once again.
They launched Apollo 11 on my 5th birthday. I remember watching that and the one small step. I remember everything else you mentioned. I was going in the lunch room between classes when a fiend told me Challenger was gone.
We took that one small step and then we stumbled. SpaceX might just pave the way to getting us off this rock at last.