25 Years Ago TODAY!!!

Hi Jimmy,

Do you remember what YOU were doing 25 years ago today? I DO!!!

I was standing waist deep in freezing coastal water along the Causeway leading into KSC. I had been up all night with a group of friends, one of whom worked for Rockwell Int and had gotten special passes to bring in a car load of people to watch THE FIRST SHUTTLE LAUNCH EVER!!!!!

I'm telling you, there was nothing like it. Yeah, the Saturn Fives rocked, and so did the Saturn 1B night launch for SkyLab.....but that HUGE machine breaking free, rolling over and then heading out for space was just too cool for words!!!!!!

I always wondered if you were there, given your star status and all that. I know the band Rush was, as I saw their bus roll by to the special vistors area ....lucky bastards! A couple of months later they had a tour bus with a painting of a shuttle launch on the side all to themselves. It was way cool...


So today I am wearing my loud screen printed tee shirt I got at KSC last December....it's covered in flames and has a shuttle blasting up at you on my chest. Its gotten a number of comments thus far, all of which I use to let everyone know why today is just so damned important and cool!!!!

Yeah, airplanes are cool, sailing ships are too...but Spacecraft are a notch above both of these. They live in a Space of their own.....hey, were you at the Spaceship One launches? They were just like NASA in the good old days, with a total "Can Do!" attitude going on. Then agan, probably the coolest thing in the end was watching the Spacecraft being towed along the flightline with a good old Ford Truck afterwards....with Richard Branson sitting on the tailgate swinging his feet!

SPACE RULES!

Now just where is my Estes Spaceship One model hiding.......?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHUTTLE!!!!!!!