Return to Space

[gnomi]

mabfan and I watched the liftoff of Discovery this morning, with him watching CNN from New York and me watching streaming video of NASA TV. Liftoff was beautiful, seemingly flawless*, and still mabfan and I held our breaths during "Go with throttle-up." He and I both remember Challenger, remember what happened when they did "go with throttle-up."

Fly safe and true, Discovery, and return to us safely.

*mabfan and I watched the liftoff of Columbia in January 2003, and at the time I told him I thought I'd seen something fall off the side of the shuttle, something that looked like foam. I unfortunately, apparently, turned out to have been correct.

Comments

[jenwrites.livejournal.com]

mabfan and I watched the liftoff of Columbia in January 2003, and at the time I told him I thought I'd seen something fall off the side of the shuttle, something that looked like foam. I unfortunately, apparently, turned out to have been correct.

:(

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

It was absolutely freaky, I tell you. I almost didn't watch this one because of it. But I'm glad I did.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I can verify Nomi's comment.

I was watching on a television set in the school where I was working, and Nomi was watching on her computer. To my eyes, it was a picture-perfect launch. Nomi asked me about the thing that she thought she saw fall off the shuttle, and I dismissed her concern.

Then, on February 1, 2003, we learned that she was right.