One Small Landing for Man, One Giant Sadness for Mankind

This morning, the shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, pulling onto the runway with a succinct, "Mission complete, Houston."

Mission complete, Houston

This is the last of the thirty-year shuttle program, and a hard one for me to let go.  Yes,  we'll soon have commercial space flights, and yes, we'll be hitching rides with the Ruskies aboard Russian Soyuz rockets, but this just feels wrong.

NASA is now being tasked to oversee development of new commercial spacecraft, "Your trip is sponsored by Space Coke, official soft drink of the galaxy!"  The government hopes that this space-break-up will let the program let go of the moon and focus on the other planets, namely Mars.

Maybe so, but I remember going to a party in Austin a long time ago and there was a woman there who was going to go into space.    I think it was Catherine Coleman, but I can't be sure.  I had a friend who was an engineer for NASA during the mid 90s and worked on the shuttle.  And I had the great pleasure of working with an IBMer who assisted in the rescue of Apollo 13.  I know of at least one Whiner who has a space-connection, but I will let her share that bit if she chooses.

I remember sitting on the floor of my best friend's house, and watching Walter Cronkite talk through the moon landing.  I wasn't much of space or technology buff then, but I will always remember being in awe of the idea of stepping on the moon.

I remember the Challenger disaster.  I was in college, and when I heard the news, I actually thought it was a joke because space travel had become so "safe." Ha.  How quickly we become drift into complacency.

So what are your thoughts on the last Shuttle landing?  Where should we go next?

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