I was not a NASA-crazed child, but I grew up with the Space Shuttle. I can recall the day when I found out, at age 7, that Challenger had exploded and its crew perished.
On Friday I will take Patrick to OMSI in the early morning to view the very last shuttle launch, Atlantis, in the planetarium:
Get a front-row seat to watch the final flight of NASA’s shuttle program, Atlantis. We will show the lift-off live via satellite on NASA TV in the planetarium beginning at 7:00 a.m. on Friday, July 8, with the shuttle’s launch scheduled at 8:26 a.m. PDT. Admission to the televised launch is free and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. (The museum will be closed, but the planetarium will be open for the launch viewing.)
I think it’s a moment not to be missed. In the meantime, here’s a very nice video tribute:
There’s a special place in my heart for Atlantis; we saw it launch in 1997. (I even got to take an organic chemistry exam early to catch the flight to Florida to make it – and exceptions to the exam schedule were almost never granted.)
It was phenomenal.
Thanks, EH!