Astronomy

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

Its sad we have lost that spectacle of space travel. What do people my age (25) have to remember? If they are a little older they remember the Challenger. Most my age will remember the Columbia. All tragedies. Most will forget the probes that landed on Mars and Titan, there is just something about a human standing on alien soil saying "we came in peace for all mankind" that inspires us to greatness.

My dad and I were both space program geeks.

We had family friends who lived in Florida, between Orlando and the Atlantic coast. We used to visit there at least once a year. One time we went down to Cape Canaveral and took the tour of the KSC. At the time they were working on preparation for the first space shuttle mission - we were taken out on the runway they'd put down there in case the shuttle needed to land at KSC - but of course all the Apollo stuff I recognized was still around... mission control, the Vehical Assembly Building (if you think it looks big on TV, you should see it in person!) and it was totally awesome.

The space exploration exhibit at the MSI in Chicago is also very cool. When I went pretty much all I looked at was that and the U-505... I mean, I stood this close to the actual Apollo 8 command module. How awesome is that?