I didn’t get to see STS-133 launch at the end of October last year. Â I was rather disappointed. Â I have been working in the aerospace industry for 13 years now and all in the Shuttle side even. Â In that time, I had never gone to see a live Shuttle launch in person! Â So when I won the Space Flight Awareness Honoree Award, I was sooo excited!
Then the launch got delayed.  And it got delayed big!  It was December, then January.  And then it had moved to February.  It was on my son’s birthday even!  No matter… I was so determined to see it in person especially since the award involved seeing it as close as one can get!  (Unless you are the president or something!)
So two of my co-workers wanted to see it as well and we drove out to see it. Â 16 hours of driving. Â Each way. Â It was long but totally worth it.
It will be sad to see them all retire… I sure hope NASA and humanity doesn’t let go of the dreams…