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| Windows on history London, ON August 2022 This photo originally shared on Instagram |
My fire for technology was sparked by a boyhood obsession with things that not only flew, but flew so fast that they achieved orbit. My rock stars were astronauts and engineers and ground crew who made these miracles happen.
As an adult, I mourned the losses of Challenger and Columbia and their respective crew members, and the weaknesses in human behaviors that fuelled these avoidable tragedies.
I watched superpowers evolve from enemies on the ground and adversaries in space into true partners who built a beacon in the sky that inspires kids like me every time it flies overhead. Then I watched those same superpowers begin to dismantle that same partnership.
Somehow all these lessons of space flight helped shape my storyteller’s brain. Because the stories of rockets really are the stories of us.
All of which explains how I find myself early this morning, surrounded by screens as I watch NASA attempt to launch Artemis 1 on a crucial test flight. Half a century after the Apollo program wound down, we’re about to take the first steps toward returning to the moon.
It’s one of those inflection points in history, which largely explains why I find myself wearing my NASA meatball logo t-shirt over my space-themed jammies while the rest of the fam sleeps.
NASA teams are currently troubleshooting some chilldown issues with engine 3 on the core stage, itself carried forward from a storied career powering shuttles to orbit. So it’s anyone’s guess whether they’ll hit their launch window, let alone the original T-0 at 8:33 a.m. ET.
Whatever happens next is anyone’s guess. [UPDATE 8:35 a.m. ET: the launch director has called a scrub for the day.] But I can’t imagine missing out on a story that, unlike so many that dominate the news cycle today and every day, represents the very best of who we are.
Moments like this were humbling and memorable when I was a child, and they’re precisely so today, as well.
Godspeed, Artemis 1. May the dreams of the countless heroes who created you continue to soar not only into the heavens, but well beyond.
#Artemis #Artemis1 #GoArtemis #NASA #SLS #Orion #spaceflight #space #moon #dream
Related:
Space Math: Gagarin+60+Columbia+40, April 2021
10 years after Shuttle, July 2021
Remembering Columbia - 18 years later, February 2021
Staring at the belly of the beast, January 2021
Crew-1 takes flight, November 2020
Atlantis in the abstract, October 2020
Staring Atlantis in the nose, August 2020
Logo on a space shuttle's wing, July 2020
Watching rockets fly from afar, May 2020
A dog watches space history, May 2020
Old orbiter. New code. February 2020
Where Atlantis feels the heat, February 2020
Looking through Columbia's windows, February 2020
Saying thanks to the Challenger crew, January 2020
Rocket science, up close, January 2020
The warmer side of (space capsule) cool, January 2020
Face-to-face with Space Shuttle Atlantis, January 2020
Orion flies. Hope comes along for the ride. December 2014
The Shuttle Era ends, July 2011
Challenger, 20 years on, January 2006
Raiding the Archives 11 - Risk, December 2004
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