30th Anniversary of Shuttle

I saw a Marine general cry today. 

Let me back up. Today was the 30th anniversary of the launch of the space shuttle Columbia on STS-1, inaugurating the Space Shuttle program. This year that program comes to an end. Emotions are high. Many of the workers at KSC have worked closely with the orbiters--some from that first launch--and see them as their own. Many of these same people face an uncertain future and will likely lose their jobs, if they haven't already. 

Understandably, the astronauts who have flown aboard these vehicles feel a strong tie to them as well. These orbiters have been their home, their refuge from the harshness of space. So perhaps it's fitting that an astronaut was tasked to determine their ultimate fate, the aformentioned Marine general, Charlie Bolden. 

Today, standing in front of the hangar where Atlantis is being prepared for its final mission, Bolden announced where the orbiters would go after they retire. More than once he choked up as he spoke, the emotions of the day overwhelming him. And, sitting in the audience, I knew how he felt.

It's a big year for me. 30 years ago, my mom was 7 months pregnant with me. STS-1 is the only space shuttle flight I was not alive for. I was born too late for the moon landings, so the shuttle program WAS manned space flight as I grew up. I only vaguely remember watching Challenger as it happened, but was glued to the TV two years later when Discovery roared triumphantly off the pad. I remember the deployment of a magnificent new telescope, and then the flight to give it glasses. I watched the shuttle dock with Mir, then begin construction of the long-awaited International Space Station. 

I was always a space case. I devoured Star Trek and other science fiction growing up. But always there was the real thing, the pathway to those imagined futures. I longed to see a launch in person. I longed to work for NASA, to see the shuttles. I daresay this is a big part of why I'm an engineer today.

And I made it. I work for NASA at KSC. I have been spitting distance from each orbiter, enjoyed the view from the top of the pad structures, watched a close friend's 8 year old son goggle at the orbiter wing he was standing under during last year's Family Day in the same way I stared at the TV watching STS-26.

Tomorrow those onstage and in the audience will be back to our normal roles as managers and employees. But today, we were merely people who had been touched by five vehicles that changed our lives.