Discovering
Friday, February 25, 2011 at 3:50PM The last trip for the workhorse, the Great Comforter. I watched with Sam The Baby Nephew on my lap, one hand hanging up the phone and a forest floor's worth of notes on Drum Majors scattered at my feet.
This is not how I thought it would end.
But Will The Small Child Nephew was fascinated, Jim The Nephew sat still, and I only cried a little, resting a cheek atop Sam's warm little head. He won't know the shuttle. I was hoping he'd know something even better. Maybe he eventually he will. But the fact is that, at my last reading, the audience was shocked to hear that when the shuttle program ends, so does the American manned program.
"I'm afraid of heights," Will announced as Discovery roared uphill one last time. "I don't want to go into space."
"You don't have to if you don't want to," I said, bouncing Sam.
"I want to go into space," Jim said. "In an airplane. I'll fly you and Uncle Josh."
"Okay then."
"Aunt Beth, are you sad?"
"A little bit. But I'm happy for the astronauts."
That is the best and final gift as Discovery leaves us; as she was the one who surged forward after her two elder sisters had fallen, she'll now lead us in preparing for the end of it all. I hope we've learned. But, given the fact that Fox News cut out of the launch after the solid rocket boosters dropped, I doubt it.
She backflips today on her way to the International Space Station, a manuever she never had to perform until after Columbia, but also a necessary one as she prepares to dock with an orbiting wonder we thought would never come to pass after Challenger was gone. Discovery is the white knight of Hubble, the dependable elder who was never designed for the role, the beloved of the astronaut corps.
Godspeed, good lady. You don't deserve the dust you're about to start collecting.
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Reader Comments (36)
I'm sad too. My students will never know the thrill of watching the space program as it grows and changes. Of course, along with that is the knowledge that they will also never know the sorrow at watching something as tragic as the Challenger tragedy. However, I am saddened that they have lost the opportunity to dream of being astronauts, engineers in the space program, explorers in outer space. I have a couple who have already begun to dream that dream. They draw pictures of themselves outfitted in astronaut space suits.....of their own design. They see themselves standing next to the American flag as it's placed on some distant planet. I don't have the heart to tell them that their dream will likely never come true. I choose instead to believe that maybe in the future, when they're older, the program will be revived in some format. I sure hope so. So much scientific discovery has come about through the space program. It seems such a shame to have it shelved now, never to see the light of day again.
What do you think, MB? Is there a chance for future generations, like my students or your nephews, to be thrilled by the amazing achievements of our space program?
(rolls around in post to remove tO$U stench)
Lovely, MB. I know this is a hard time for you.
sigh...
This sucks.
(not your post, the end of shuttle.)
Hopefully we will see the next generation soon.
I'd feel better about this if there were something in the pipeline to replace it, but no.
Ah, sad day. I remember when the program was first getting started. A great point for American pride.
I used tot live in Central Florida. This is going to devastate the economy, if it hasn't already.
dammit MB, whether it's drum majors or space shuttles, you sure know how to make me cry.
Thanks for the lovely thoughts, Wiser. Well put, as always.
I am struggling to see the good in this; the private sector, hopefully, will pick up the slack, but I would have preferred to see it ready to stand up right after Shuttle. That's not going to happen any time soon, though-- not in this economy.
I also consider this a national security and peace offense issue, but as we all know, nobody checks with me. The (rather dim, but I'll take what I can get) bright spot is that at least NASA is seeing to it that the shuttles will be well cared-for by museums after Endeavor is done. It wasn't always so careful with our space history.
Well, given that I never thought the government should be spending money on this in the first place, I can't say I 'm tremendously sad, to be honest. But it's truly a cultural staple which will be missed.
A good balance of melancholy and hope here, MB
I'm glad you're so busy with Ohio State this week so that it's not so tough on ya.
I never realized that Discovery was the first one launched after both losses. Hm.
I saw one launch in person. It was Atlantis. And it was incredible. Quite a loss.
Yay, comments are back!
Load up some chocolate for next week, dear Belle. Between this and the post-Ohio State crash, you're gonna be hurtin'.
You think YOU'RE sad... I remember feeling this way after Apollo ended.
Fly high, Discovery! We'll miss you.
Sad day indeed. I wonder what my kids will see launch. MB I remember you writing that the Cape is still sending up unmanned rockets, but it's not the same, is it?
Wiser, I agree that at least there were kids drawing pictures of astronauts. But I am devastated to think that they'll assume that this is something all in the past.
Mary Beth, this reminds me about that interview you gave in which you mentioned that human capital is by far the most important return of the space program. And my brother became an engineer because he originally wanted to be an astronaut, and that's what got him interested in science and math. I agree that this is something which shouldn't have ended without something in its place from the private sector.
Hard to believe it's almost over. I never got around to seeing a launch and I'm sad that it looks like I won't at all.
Totally lame to shut down with nothing in place. Makes it look like the entire nation is having a close-out sale.
The crew had "Woody's Roundup" as the wake-up song today : )
"But the fact is that, at my last reading, the audience was shocked to hear that when the shuttle program ends, so does the American manned program."
Yeah, I don't think most people realize this. There'd be more pissed off citizens if there were, maybe. But with the budget getting slashed everywhere, I don't know if that would help either.
"I'll fly you and Uncle Josh."
Awwwwww!
"You don't deserve the dust you're about to start collecting."
Seconded.
I move that Mary Beth dispatches our new drum major friends to strut out in front of the orbiter when she lands. A drum major honor guard of sorts.
"I move that Mary Beth dispatches our new drum major friends to strut out in front of the orbiter when she lands."
Orbiters hit the runway going 200 MPH. But hey, if anyone can pull that off, it's D-Row.
*(&#dammit people, ONE drum major free post, just ONE...
HA-ha!
201 MPH strut? With a beer in one hand and his baton in another. Don't waste our time.
well done, Blonde Champagne readers
We ruin genuine sentiment faster than any other comment section I know.
This post made me sad, until the comments made me happy again.
see, Mary Beth, OSU fixes EVERYTHING
(pat MB's hand)
The poor child is at low ebb. Let her be.
"But the fact is that, at my last reading, the audience was shocked to hear that when the shuttle program ends, so does the American manned program."
The American public manned program. Many of my tinfoil-hat-wearing friends (and yes, I include myself) suspect there is a secret space program controlled 100% by the military.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstar_%28spacecraft%29
When I was a kid in Catholic grammar school, we would go to Mass to pray for the astronauts then watch the launch on giant televisions on wheels in the classrooms. Those were the best days. So sad to think that kids won't know that kind of wonder and magic anymore. Great post MB.
Tink-- not that all this band stuff isn't really interesting in its own right, but I bet you could write about paint drying and it would be hilarious as well as touching.
You don't deserve the dust you're about to start collecting.
Neither does the dust deserve her.