Return to Space

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.

In honor of the day...

Witnesses' Waltz by Leslie Fish

( Lyrics are here )