Editor’s note: A tale here, day by day. Daily I’ll upload a portion of the story in efforts to capture the excitement of my journey to witness the historic launch of the space shuttle, which just today (July 21st 2011 at 5:56 AM EDT) sealed its entry into history books universe-wide. Please enjoy.
STS-135: A Timeless tale
So there I was, humanity’s most complex engineering achievement towering just a few meters in front of me: the Space Shuttle. Atlantis was her name and this flight the bookend of a dynasty. Gracefully rising through the air roaring her adieu to the world that watched.
I am human enough to admit that tears of joy filled my eyes.
3.6 miles from Pad 39A at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Centre amidst numerous employees of the world’s space program and their families, astronauts, 2500 journalists, 1.5 million public viewers stuffing the causeways while billions world-wide tuned in. To get to this moment would not have been possible first and foremost without the gracious invitation of Oxford Community Television, Mr. Paul Graham and Dr. Ryan Kobrick.
To really capture the essence of this pilgrimage lets starts a few days earlier.
T – weeks earlier
Job offer falls through slated for July. Literally that second I booked my package trip to Cape Canaveral. Orbitz.com – wham, bam, hotel, car and airfare. #135orbust I trend on Twitter. Sweet deal. No response of #NASATweetup entry & denied Cape Canaveral Visitor Centre/Causeway tickets. Regardless I was ready to roll and hit Cocoa Beach with swimsuit in hand to witness history. Invitation received to join a media team. This I felt was going to be one heck of a trip. Little did I know what I had signed up for.
Terra++ 