PREFACE: if you dont like space, or exploration, or working together while advancing your species… please dont read this youre wasting your time. im sure theres an amazing sale at wal-mart youre missing out on…
So…
I’m in Orlando. It’s 12:38 AM here, the 3 hour time difference id forgotten about illuminating why I’m not at all tired… I can’t sleep, I’m restless… I’m here to hopefully witness the final launch of the NASA Space Shuttle program (STS-135).
Image courtesy of NASA
Friday July 8th, 2011. The weathers been terrible… they say 30% chance of good weather for launch. I’m thinking I’ve come all the way out here for nothing.
(there were an estimated 1 million people lined up all along the coast for the event)
Spectators on the side of road
(we left about 3:30AM friday morning, on a bus ride that took nearly 3 hours to go about 40 miles, due to all the traffic…)
This means that were not regularly ferrying US citizens into space anymore. This makes me sad… Very fucking sad. The pilot lights gone out. To someone like me it’s like the Library of Alexandria being destroyed. AGAIN. it’s knowledge and work and goals lost forever… AGAIN…
Obviously NASA and it’s work are not simply fading into nothing, only say, 90% of its staff are. So all the big brains are looking for work, rather than applying their knowledge and skills to the benefit of our collective conscious.
Very. Fucking. Sad.
I think the problem is… it will cause them and us as a species years to catch back up to the momentum we once had.
But this bird will fly, eventually, and it will mean something to those of us who look to the future, those who realize were destined to explore the unknown…
And then… she did.
A fiery spear thrown to god to challenge his grip of humanity.
I stood beside myself.
(watch the video, i sound like a fucking 5 year old. its amazing.)
i started shooting at about T Minus 10 seconds…
Now, riding back on a ragged-ass bus from a once in a lifetime experience… And my travel buddy Adam and I can’t help but laugh at the fact that it’s pissing cats and dogs here, near our hotel in Orlando, and it’s hot and sunny back where we just came from:
Titusville and John F Kennedy space center…
Aerial shot of the Vehicle Assembly Building and the launch site, courtesy of NASA
September 12th, 1962.
I wonder what JFK would think about this. How would he feel knowing that his great speech, his motivational address to the nation that commanded us towards the moon so many years ago, now exists as barely more than a sound-byte. And it’s effects have nearly run out of steam beating themselves against a wall of growing American unconsciousness and selfishness.
Funny how as a nation we could better ourselves if it meant that we would appear superior to another nation and avoid subjugation, but we can’t seem to just do it for ourselves and the betterment of all human kind.
What I saw today was the culmination of thousands of years of human ingenuity and application of the mind to the laws of the universe.
This creature, the Space Shuttle as we call it, is nothing short of a human engineering marvel, nearly a miracle it even ever existed, a testament to our race… Yes, built by America… But remember the whole point of America is that it’s made up of all races, with a desire to work together and think freely, right?
I saw so many employees of the space center over the last 2 days… Making presentations, sharing information, prepping astronauts for launch, and most of all fighting for understanding.
Their message was clear: Don’t forget us. Don’t forget what we’ve done, what we wanted to do, and that we will still be doing our damnedest, even though if in a diminished capacity.
The spin is that NASA will go to work on more of the future tech that we need to reach the moon again, and mars and who knows what beyond… And that the private and commercial sector will take over a lot of the work of ferrying people and cargo around in space.
The true downside here is that you can tell that’s not really what they want.
The ISS is only “complete” because it had to be, for PR sake.
When was the last time you looked at your house and said “this home is done. It needs nothing more.”? NEVER! Your home is a constantly evolving entity, upgrading technology and living space… How else does Home Depot stay in such good business? How outdated is the space station going to be in 10 years of were not continuously building and modifying it at the same pace we have been? Sure the other nations will still be involved, it is the International Space Station after all… but what about our contribution? And why have we collectively made the decision to leave it up to others to help carry out whats left of our vision?
If we think America is really so damned important… why aren’t we leading the charge? Why this valley in the history of our space exploration, while were still working on “whats next”?
Anyways… I’m skeptical, and scared. I wish I wanted to have children. But I’m terrified for what the world will be like and what little they may have to look forward to. My generation lacks the optimism of the generations before, is bare of the hope and community that was once so prevalent in our nation. And this is a sadness, a sickness we’ve bred ourselves, slowly cooked over a fire in hells kitchen, built to brew fear and silence amongst the people.
I hope I’m dead wrong.
But I saw something today… I saw men and women leaving themselves and their families behind, to go forth and learn. To shake and pound their fists and challenge the gods to a battle of wits. To ask the burning questions, to stare the creator, the spark of the universe in the face and say “I am not afraid of the unknown.”
For them, I am thankful.
When that chariot rose over the tree line, my eyes teared up. Not just from the unexpected brightness of the horsepower screaming out the muzzle of the rockets. But because I was proud, and jealous, and humbled…
That candles been lit 135 times. Only 134 times did it make it to space, and only 133 times did it come back in one piece.
Remember them, those that survived. Those that died. Remember what NASA and all of the worldwide space agencies have done for us all. Keep their courage close to your heart, and their dreams close to your imagination…
Now go make something of yourself.
“Change is difficult, but you can’t do something else, you can’t do something better, without it.”
- Bob Cabana
(pilot on STS-41, STS-53 and mission commander on STS-65,STS-88)