I was back home in the Midwest visiting family and friends last month. While driving down the Interstate in Kansas City, I saw a tractor trailer rig hauling a cylindrical object in my side mirror. For whatever reason the Space Shuttle was on my mind and upon seeing the orange color of one of the objects I got a little giddy thinking it was the external tank used to fuel the Space Shuttle Main Engines during launch.
Yes, I know, the external tank is manufactured in Louisiana and would have no rational reason to be cruising a highway in Missouri. Not to mention the fact that the external tank is 153-feet long and 27-feet in diameter. As well as the simple truth that the external tank is moved to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center via a custom barge which traverses the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Coastline.
Still, the brief moment of excitement was thrilling before my imagination was overwhelmed by logical reasoning. That feeling of being as joyous as a child, even for a few brief seconds, was priceless.
And with that said, good luck to Discovery and the six astronauts preparing to launch skyward the afternoon of November 1st. I’m not certain where I shall be that afternoon, but I am positive that I will be watching it, whether it be live in person or via the internet or TV.
This entry was posted on Monday, October 25th, 2010 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Randomness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
