Shuttle Launch, April 5, 2010

Approximately three weeks prior to Easter Sunday, 2010, I received an email from Paul Martin saying the next shuttle launch was on Monday, April 5 which was the Monday after Easter. Paul had always wanted to see a launch and he had heard me state that was on my bucket list, along with a few other things that I wanted to experience. To digress briefly at this time, it has been my firm belief that Television has cost us to keep from experiencing things on a first hand basis. People stay at home and watch whatever they desire but miss the emotion of witnessing the event first hand. It is like watching a ballgame on TV verses being in the stands with the decibels so intense that your ears ring for hours after the game, It is nothing like being there! I have seen many launches replayed on TV but can truthfully say that there is nothing like being there in person. Several years ago, Al Hammond (a good friend and co-worker at Alfa) and I played golf with a NASA employee that invited us to personally see a launch. Due to work, children, personal schedules, I never did and had always regretted not making this a priority. Paul Martin's email gave me a second chance and I was not going to miss this opportunity. Paul and I both had one problem, Easter Sunday and the launch was at 5:21 am the morning after. My son in law, Tommy Treadwell, was to sing at First Baptist Church in Montgomery on Easter Sunday. With Linda being a willing partner we were able to go to the early service at 8:30 am, hear Tommy sing, leave by 10:30 am, drive to our home, transfer to our Motor Coach and head out by 11:30 am. The Martin's left from Auburn at 9:30 am. We had an 8 hour drive ahead of us but we were in Titusville, Fl. at 8 pm setting up our Rv on US 1 in the JC Penny parking lot. People kept coming in all hours of the night from everywhere. There were to be only 3more launches after this one. From here we a short walk at 4:00 am across the highway to the water that separates Merritt Island from Titusville. The night view of the shuttle was spectacular, like the time I viewed the Statue of Liberty at night. The space program symbolizes the technological superiority of my beloved country, that we were the best and that we could achieve whatever we determined as a country with the proper leadership. I was proud to be an American. The next morning was filled with excitement as people began to fill up the vacant lot that we had set up in earlier. When the launch began, people began the countdown and then the sky lit up like a bomb had gone off. It took several minutes for the roar to reach us. As day broke you could see the gaseous tail of the rockets and magnificent colors. Scratch this one off my bucket list. It was worth the wait! Thanks to Tommy Standard and Paul Martin for making this one possible.