[from http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/Archive/2005/Aug/09-538421.html]
Mark and I woke up for the Discovery landing – yesterday morning. We also woke up a couple of times Monday morning (starting around 3 AM or so) – to watch the delay of the landing and eventually, the scrubbing of the landing. I thought it was cute the shuttle crew woke up to the tune “Come on Elieen” – for their commander, Eileen Collins.
We toyed with the idea of driving up to Edwards Air Base…and scrubbed it. I didn’t want to get stuck in traffic.
I was amazed we could see the shuttle in spite of all the city lights. We tracked the shuttle’s progress through some NASA websites. We stepped outside about ten minutes before the estimated landing. We kept our gaze on the western sky.
Then we spotted a bright orange light. It looked brighter than a star and it moved faster than a plane. Mark said it looked like it was traveling at the right speed. It stay bright and it kept moving quickly across the dark morning sky….it’s not exactly a night sky since it was already 5 something in the morning.
When it got further east, the shuttle looked dimmer. A few minutes later, we heard and saw all the garage doors shake around us.
“Sonic boom!” Mark said. We ran back inside the house and watched Discovery touch down on the runway.
Wow. I said a little prayer of thanks.
[from http://www.nasa.gov]
I remember the Columbia tragedy. The Discovery crew honored Columbia’s memory and gave us hope for the future of American space travel.
The Discovery Crew
Commander Eileen Collins
Mission Specialist Andrew Thomas
Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence
Mission Specialist Soichi Noguchi
Mission Specialist Charles Camarda
Mission Specialist Stephen Robinson
Pilot James Kelly
With our wedding a little more than two weeks away, this shuttle landing also seemed like a good omen for us.