Happy Launch & Happy 4th!
Tuesday, July 4th, 2006All around, it has been a GREAT 4th of July!!!
- STS 121 (Space Shuttle Discovery) gave us a beautiful show as she performed a by-the-book launch and soared towards the heavens. There’s pride, awe and oxygen-deprivation (from holding one’s breath) in watching what one former astronaut (wish I’d written down his name!) describe as “working at the edge of physics”. There is nothing simple, boring or unlikely to raise one’s blood pressure in watching 4.5 million pounds of solid matter, carrying a precious cargo of human lives and packed with supplies and wonderous experiments, lift itself away from earthly supports and earthly constraints and soar into space!
- A work holiday, with enough rain in the forecast to stymie lawn mowing, got Tom back to minor repairs and continued rigging of the Pandora (the newest ship model in the “family fleet”).