Things that go boom...

There was a test firing at the SpaceX facility near us - things didn't go as planned...

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Holding My Breath...

We were glued to the TV on Wednesday, in anticipation of the SpaceX launch.  Scrubbed because of weather.  We were back to the tube again this afternoon.  An hour before launch, all systems go.  Some concerns again about weather, but 30 minutes before launch, they were good to go.  Right on schedule... liftoff!

It was exciting to see the United States back in the space business, and the launch went off without a hitch...

In the first three minutes, I found myself holding my breath, with each significant change of status.  The booster rocket landed on a platform in the Atlantic, just like planned.  The two astronauts are in orbit, heading to the International Space Station.

I remember when I was a kid, watching the first manned space flights, seeing John Glenn as the first US astronaut to orbit the earth, and watching the Apollo 11 mission put the first men on the moon.

Then, it seemed like manned space flight became commonplace, until the explosion and destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger, taking the lives of all seven crew members.  These are times that those of us of a certain age remember where we were and what we were doing when it happened.

Today, we were in our living room.  Rufus was on my lap... well, kinda on my side since I was also using my laptop.  It has been 11 years since a manned space launch from American soil.  They will be about 19 hours enroute to the ISS and will be on the Space Station for an anticipated 110 days.

Godspeed.