The Space Shuttle’s Final Voyage
Last Friday the space shuttle Atlantis made its final launch ending 30 years of a program that has seen more than its fair share of success and tragedy.
For me, I can’t believe its been 30 years since a 14 year old Steve convinced his parents to let him stay home from school so I could watch not only the maiden launch, but all the lead up commentary and excitement. In fact, we didn’t have a VCR yet (it was 1981) so I taped the launch on an audio tape recorder and would listen and re-listen to all the analysis and the launch over and over again. John Young and Bob Crippen were the first shuttle astronauts and my friend Tom and I would wear flight sunglasses and refer to each other as “Crip” as Young did to Crippen.
Young and Crippen 1981 |
Young and Crippen today |
Somehow the dream of the space shuttle making space flight routine and safe never quite materialized and the bold mission of exploring strange new worlds got bogged down into ferrying supplies, satellites, and astronauts into low earth orbit.
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