Shuttle Discovery Launch – STS-131

When I went outside this morning to view the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery, I did not intend to then come in here and write about it, but here I am. I just love watching shuttle launches.

And that’s a big problem.

The space shuttles are going extinct, and I’m just not “okay” with that. I wasn’t around for Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo, so the only real experience I have had in my life with manned space flight has been with the Space Shuttle program. As far as I am concerned, the program is not ending: it is dying. The shuttle has been an old friend of mine since I was four (and a half) years old. I’m going to miss my old friend.

Now, I can accept that we have to move on to better technology. Maybe something that will take us to the moon. Or Mars. Something like Constellation!

Oh, wait…

I don’t have the opulence of words that those like Stephen Force have to express thought and emotion, so I cannot adequately describe the launch in any way that would do it justice. It was simply stunning. The glow over the trees when the boosters lit, then the ever-lengthing plume of fire as she accelerated, and finally the SRB seperation leaving just a lone, bright star in the sky bursting into Earth-orbit. Breathtaking.

There was also this “halo” of … something … that seems to trail behind Discovery as she peirced the very atmosphere. I don’t recall ever seeing it before. It may have been an artifact of the early morning launch, and I may never get to see it again. I only wish I had a camera capable of capturing the image. For now, I have to settle for imprinting it in my memory.

Have a great flight, Discovery. We will be waiting for you to return home safely!

P.S. If you take your crew on a long field trip to, say, the moon, I won’t tell.

Tagged as: NASA, Space, Space Shuttle, Space Shuttle Discovery