Another year. Another vacation. Another adventure. It is 15 years since I first ventured into the world on my own. 15 years of exiting travels. New people. New smells. New tastes. New cultures. I have always loved it. No matter how tired I have been after I came home, I always wanted more.
Sitting here now in my living room, I smell the fresh smell of summers rain. The birds singing as the daylight dims outside. I feel the tingling in my body. The tingling I get every time I am heading out. But this time, the country is not strange to me. I have been there several times. The USA. But the country is not the goal this time. It is something spectacular.
On the 8'th of July, 11.26 AM EST, the space shuttle Atlantis will end an era. No more space shuttle launches. The four astronauts riding the flame this time will be the last flying the ultimate plane.
It is quite special to me. When I was a kid, I read everything I found about space and astronomy. And when I was 11, they launched the first space shuttle. We were given time off at school to watch the first attempt. I still remember it like it was yesterday. My eyes fixed on the tv. The classmates talking was just a faint whisper in my ears. I probably felt like those who watched Neil Armstrong on the Moon. "One small step". Hypnotized.
The launch was postponed. We went back to our classrooms. But I was on a space flight in my mind for days afterwards. On April 12'th 1981, the shuttle was finally launched. I watched all the newscast, read all papers about the launch. About John Young and Robert Crippen. About lost heat shield tiles. The anxiety, the thrill, the success. I swallowed every bit of info. To me, manned space flight started on that day. Gagarin, Glenn, Armstrong. They were just something in books. This was real. Before my eyes. Live.
5 years later, a cold winters eve. 28'th of January. I had decided not to watch the news that particular evening. And instead, I took a long walk. I had a lot on my mind, and I didn't particularly care about the "PR" launch of a school teacher. When I got back in the house, my dad looked at me and said the words that rang in my mind for weeks to come. "The space shuttle has exploded!". I turned to the TV. The images of the shuttle disintegrating in a giant fireball. The two solid rocket boosters veering off on their own. I trembled. It was unreal. This was not supposed to happen.
February 1'st, 2003. I was attending the annual general assembly of my astronomy club. A guy who knows more about space than anybody else I know, was holding a lecture on space activities the past year. He ended it by talking about the current flight of the Columbia. And that it was now as he spoke, descending back to Earth. One of the guys attending got a phone call. He left the room. A minute later, he came back, and whispered something into the ear of the club leader. He got up, and said he had some terrible news. The space shuttle had crashed. There where no survivors. The room fell silent. The lecturer almost collapsed on the floor. In shock. On the screen was the picture of the crew. We had a minute of silence to commemorate the crew. I looked at each of the crew members. This wasn't supposed to happen.
Now, 30 years after the first lifted off pad 39A, the last shuttle will be launched from the same pad. It has been a long programme. 135 launches. Two ended in disaster. It has launched space observatories, satellites, parts for the space station. And scores of astronauts. I once had a dream of becoming one of them. I still dream of venturing out among the stars. Fly me to the Moon. Maybe someday, I will. But for now, I will settle for waving goodbye to those fortunate enough to ride. And pray for their safe return. Their journey is a dangerous one.
During my travels, I have often been afraid. I have at times found myself in situations where things easily could have gone seriously wrong. But I have been thinking: if I died on my travels, I would die doing what I love the most. Would that be a bad thing?
Welcome to the world according to me. Hope you'll enjoy it!
Ragnar
With a license to dream
