This photograph (courtesy of the Houston Chronicle and NASA), took my breath away:
It shows the nighttime launch of a shuttle mission (STS-92 to be exact). When I see images like this, what I think is "Holy crap, that's awesome." But the SECOND thing I think is, "We did this." No alien species landed and gave us the answer; Zeus did not reach down, take us up in his hand, and fling us into the heavens; and this wasn't an accident of nature.
No.
Human beings imagined the possibility of flinging ourselves off this planet that gave us birth, worked their butts off to engineer it, shed blood and sweat to build it, and then took their hearts in hand to ride it into the heavens. Human minds wrestled with the rules of the universe, and we conquered gravity. And then we did it again. And again. And again.
We did this.
Be proud.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
We Did This
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I did two interviews with NASA and the Johnson Space Center. These guys literally began at the Manned Space Center, as it was called back then, with fledgling careers in rocketry. Their next project is something that looks like a science fiction UFO, complete with docking stations all around the edges. This is no fantasy -- it is reality, set to start up at the end of the shuttles, in about two years. They've already got a guy who's planning on building a hotel in space so the astronauts and engineers going up to the station can have a "home away from home." No dream -- reality. A visit to the JSC is an unbelievable walk through man's incredible ability to create. NASA is now locked down incredibly tight, but the JSC is an unbelievable sight to see. Next time you're in the "I need a hopeful movie to watch," rent "October Sky." -- Denise
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