Expedition 11 leaves the planet

As I write this, the Soyuz rocket carrying the Expedition 11 crew to the International Space Stations sits poised on the launchpad in Kazakhstan. I'm sitting in my rocking chair, watching my children not sleep, with NASA TV coverage of the launch running in a small window in the corner of my laptop screen.

My daughter alternates between playing on the living room floor and occasionally running over to breathlessly ask if the rocket has launched yet. Not yet, sweetie, but soon.

Somehow, the ability to bring this incredible event home like this is nothing short of magical.

If you read this in the next 10 or so minutes, the media feed can be found here. I suspect they'll have additional coverage from this address in the days to come.