As Jim and I watched the Last Shuttle Launch today from the comfort of our home. I reflected back when my Dad would wake us up in the wee hours of the morning to watch the rockets being sent into space.
At first they blew up on the launch pad. Then they would lift off and fall back to Earth. I don’t remember how many we watched before one actually made it into space. Then they were actually able to get the rocket to orbit. Then they started sending up small animals and chimpanzees. The Russians were sending up rockets also. It was like “I can do anything better than you”. We couldn’t let the Russians beat us to the Moon. On a clear night we could see the Russian Sputnik as it crossed the sky. It was a race and we all felt it. It felt like if we didn’t get to the Moon first somehow the Russians would be able to take over the Earth.
We got so we didn’t want to get up just to see another rocket blow up. My Dad kept encouraging us to get up. He wanted us to see history in the making.
As the launches became kind of routine we didn’t pay quite as much attention. When John Glenn made his historic flight to finally orbit the Earth we were all glued to our TVs. The whole country was space crazy. Movies about space were very popular. TV shows about a Martin living on earth as a human or space travelers being Lost In Space, and of course who can forget Star Trek, the Mother of all space shows. Food was named after things in space, home decor reflected our obsession with all things space. Even cars were named after things in space.
President Kennedy challenged the space program to send a man to the Moon before the end of the decade. I was working in Yellowstone Park and Frank and I watched the Launch and landing at his parents house in Gardner, Montana. The history of the space program is very well documented and I do not need to rehearse it here.
I just wanted to try to convey some of my feelings. I was very moved to be witnessing this final launch. It is very interesting to me that I have been able to be a witness to this marvelous time in our history.