OK. This is one of those posts from the right side of the brain. I am always in conflict and not necessarily geeking on photography all the time. But the importance of the Space Shuttle Program, its affect as one of our more nobler human pursuits, as a society and an nation, will not be really understood until the program is long gone, over and just another part of our collective history. I had the great privilege to work for the program, but working in Houston and in Mission Control, I never had the opportunity to actually go to Florida and see one of the Shuttle launches. Frustrating, for sure, we watched each vehicle go up from a hundred different angles on our video monitors. It was only after I left the program that I got an invitation to go down and see one in the real. OMG ! Standing several miles away in the VIP area, the anticipation is palpable. Seeing the engines fire and the vehicle stack lift off the pad is awe inspiring enough. But when the concussion of the sound wave from the launch hits you, rumbling across your chest some seconds later, are you really taken back of the power and glory that has been this exploration and science program. Television cannot replicate the experience in any way. It is not something you get jaded watching (and feeling) no matter how many times you see it.
I shot this photo as a composite, in two parts simply because in less than two minutes the whole experience is over. Well maybe for us on the ground. It takes another six minutes for the crew onboard to reach initial orbit.
This program only has four more launches scheduled. This next one is coming up in April. Then, whole program will be dismantled, the shuttles stuffed into museums (like so many elephants already are) in favor of pursuing more commercial access to space as oppose to grand government sponsored programs. Whatever…
These flights really mark the end of America’s first golden age of space travel, which started humbly enough with Alan Shepard Mercury flight forty-nine years ago.
Stick out your thumb. Buy a bus ticket. Do what you have to do. There will never be another experience like it for years to come.