Endeavour
It was a few miles away, and the air was hazy. But this morning I got to see a piece of history fly by.
I thought about calling in sick to work and finding a proper vantage point, but didn't. But given I was at work, I couldn't have been more fortunate: despite a total lack of qualifications, my manager had me up on the roof of our warehouse trying to patch a leak! So all alone, forty feet above the ground, I got to see the 747, the shuttle on its back, and the F-15 accompanying them on this final, historic flight.
It really was inspiring, and that I think is NASA's greatest contribution to our country. When politicians in Washington D.C. dive into the septic morass of budgets and politics, I hope they can keep sight of that... Today's flight wasn't efficient; they burned tons of jet fuel to take a much longer route than was strictly necessary. Budget hawks will complain about wasteful spending and deficits and fiscal responsibility, but you know what? To the tens of thousands of us that looked skyward with hope today, and smiled and laughed and cheered when this amazing piece of history flew by, it was worth every penny. You can't, and shouldn't try to put a price on what that means to the citizens of this country. And in my opinion, the next politician to propose cutting NASA's budget can fuck right off.
Thank you, NASA!
I thought about calling in sick to work and finding a proper vantage point, but didn't. But given I was at work, I couldn't have been more fortunate: despite a total lack of qualifications, my manager had me up on the roof of our warehouse trying to patch a leak! So all alone, forty feet above the ground, I got to see the 747, the shuttle on its back, and the F-15 accompanying them on this final, historic flight.
It really was inspiring, and that I think is NASA's greatest contribution to our country. When politicians in Washington D.C. dive into the septic morass of budgets and politics, I hope they can keep sight of that... Today's flight wasn't efficient; they burned tons of jet fuel to take a much longer route than was strictly necessary. Budget hawks will complain about wasteful spending and deficits and fiscal responsibility, but you know what? To the tens of thousands of us that looked skyward with hope today, and smiled and laughed and cheered when this amazing piece of history flew by, it was worth every penny. You can't, and shouldn't try to put a price on what that means to the citizens of this country. And in my opinion, the next politician to propose cutting NASA's budget can fuck right off.
Thank you, NASA!