rekkidblogga

Discovery is home

Tracking the space shuttle has never been my thing, not even since seeing the Challenger explode when I was 13 (I was home from school, sick, and saw Dan Rather cut in on CBS' "The Price Is Right" to give the news; he was visibly shaken) or hearing about Columbia's breakup upon re-entry in 2003 over the radio while I was shopping for folk pottery up in the north Georgia mountains.

But this morning I'd taken my dad to have some tests at the hospital and the waiting room TV was set to ABC. They were running a special report on Discovery's return to Earth - the first re-entry attempt by a space shuttle since the Columbia disaster. The crew had to land in California, where it was still pitch dark, so Discovery appeared as a small white dot at first, then grew larger and larger until it actually looked like the space shuttle we're used to seeing.

Everyone in the waiting room, many of them noticeably sick and awaiting some sort of uncomfortable test, nevertheless stared silently and intently at the TV screen, watching as Earth welcomed Discovery home after 14 days in space, its most precious cargo still onboard, still alive.

posted by rekkidbraka @ 11:29 AM