And a patch...
And, of course, quite a story.
Wish I could be there, but alas. It truly saddens me that we've come to this passing of an era, and to know how much we're losing in the cancellation of our shuttle program, and our leading edge in space exploration.
In John Denver's (slightly altered) lyrics:
Ah, Endeavor, the places you've been to
The things that you've shown us
The stories you tell
Ah, Endeavor, we sing to your spirit
And the crews who have served you
So long and so well
Godspeed, Endeavor.
Well having watched the last launch - I wish I was there for this one too. God speed indeed!!
ReplyDeleteThe crew of Endeavor (and even more so, the crew of the Atlantis, this summer)will be called upon to show courage of a different quality than those who have gone before. The members of those crews are the last of their kind. Hard to believe the great American manned space program has come and gone within my own lifetime. From the excitement and optimism of Kennedy to the indifference and neglect of well, everyone--Bush, Obama,the American public--we've come such a long way. What once seemed so near now seems impossibly far, except in our imaginations. So sad to be watching the end of an era.
ReplyDelete@Barbara And I so envy you having experienced that! I wanted to go to one of these last two, but this one snuck up on my (even though now postponed to Monday at the earliest) and the last is scheduled during the time I'll be in NY for RWA.
ReplyDelete@Donna Beautifully stated, as always, Donna. (Yeah, what she said!) I guess now we can say we lived in the Space Age, and the Non-Space Age. :(
I'm just sick every time I think how much we're giving up, not only in terms of cutting edge exploration, but in all the huge advances we've made in technology, medicines, science and industry thanks to the shuttle missions. The budget for the space program is TINY compared to what we spend on some of our entitlement programs. It makes me so very sad.