Endeavour's Last Ride

While this is of course a tech blog, in which we talk about all things IT...this is sort of related, and even if this blog wasn't related, I'd still post it.

Friday, September 21, 2012 was the day that Space Shuttle Endeavour arrived here in Los Angeles, taking its time to swing around the southland several times.  For many people this would be the first time that they were able to see this amazing piece of history...and thanks to the California Science Center here, it won't be the last.  We achieved great heights through the Space Shuttle program, and people who are my age have grown up with it being a part of our lives for so long that it's hard to let it completely go.

So, when faced with the opportunity to see it fly by up close, a couple of co-workers and I jumped at the moment in history.  "A once in a lifetime experience," is a touted saying, and not always true, but in this case it was.  With many thanks to the gentlemen of Senderex Cargo, who let us through their back gate to the alley by the LAX runway...we were able to get up close and personal with 400 other people to watch Endeavour zip by once and then land.

It seems weird to be emotional about something like the end of a certain space program, but it closes a chapter in our lives...one in which the Space Shuttle program had helped to advance a lot of our science here on Earth.  The next chapter is a nebulous one...but with us now on Mars watching things up close and personal...I can't wait to see the future.

Here's some video we shot from my Samsung Focus Windows Phone on Friday during the first flyover. :)

[youtube=http://youtu.be/fUgeq6Xur_M]

Happy Monday!

(yes, that's me in the Hawaiian shirt...Dwight Tabangcura on the left side of the shot with his arms out, Alberto Aguilar to my right...he shot the majority of the video while I used my larger camera to take stills...and Paul Lerma on the far right.)

Last Flight of the Enterprise

Howdy folks!  I know this post isn't technical at all, and it is a little nostalgic...but growing up in CA, my family was involved with Rockwell and aerospace.  I had family members who worked on the original space shuttle, Enterprise, and so seeing it retired strikes a chord.

The technical innovations that drove the shuttles and their operations over the past 36 years...with high points and low points...show that humanity with a vision can do almost anything it wants to.  I had a chance to see the Enterprise when I was very young, and it was something I haven't forgotten.  I"m very envious of the citizens of New York City today...wish I was there for this.

It's days like this when I really do think about the future of humanity.  We've broken the atmospheric skin of this world, and have only begun to touch the endless void outside of our world...what else will we do in the next 40 years of my life?

Yes, normally Fridays aren't very heavy, but take some time to think about where we are and where we're going...it always gives me focus in my day.

Live Long and Prosper!