The highlight of the day was watching the shuttle launch.

Space exploration has always fascinated me. I feel that this could be a way for us to heal after the Columbia disaster. I hope for the best for the crew and ship. May they come home safe. It was a piece of history unfolding today. Good history.

I hope they didn't rush this thing. Thinking the very best.

I just want to see what they are saying about it.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - In uneasy reminders of the Columbia accident, a thermal tile apparently got chipped and other debris whirled around Discovery as it rumbled toward space Tuesday, but it wasn't clear if the shuttle's sensitive skin had been jeopardized.

A 1 1/2-inch-wide bit of tile captured on camera appeared to fly off the shuttle's belly, on the edge of a door that encloses the nose landing gear. It was not clear if the tile had been struck by anything. Pieces of tile, which protect the shuttle from searing heat on return to Earth, have been lost on past flights without preventing a safe homecoming.

"We're going frame-by-frame through the imagery," said John Shannon, a
NASA operations manager.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050726/ap_on_sc/shuttle_debris_3

and the promise of an exciting and positive future.

We gotta keep wishing for those better tomorrows.

But if we lose this one, it could be a real disaster.

when astronauts White, Chaffee, and Grissom perished on the launchpad during a routine test. A short circuit had caused a fire in the command module, and because of its high-pressure oxygen cabin, the astronauts roasted to death in a matter of seconds. (Subsequent CMs used an oxygen-nitrogen mixture.)

Anyway, this political cartoon showed a giant grim reaper character carrying a space capsule, with a smoking launch tower in the background. The grim reaper character says something to the effect of, "Don't you remember? I've been lurking here the whole time!"

It really was quite sobering. Space travel is an incredibly valuable and exciting undertaking, but it is also INCREDIBLY dangerous. We must NEVER take the perils these astronauts face for granted. And I never have.

although the practical part of me says "ka-ching",
a very expensive plane ride to an exclusive hotel.

They closed the base for other flights and about 160 French military and 30 US personal were checking with Houston if everything was going ok...

why ? because if there is a problem at start and the shuttle has to do an emergency landing they would land here or alternatively on an another base in Spain...

it's about 100 km from where I live...

I bet Faux News doesn't report that...