"Go Baby Go"!

Americans can be surprisingly patriotic at occasions. As Discovery blasted on to the space leaving a cloud of smoke behind - the people gathered there, some camping overnight screamed, clapped and waved American flags. It was more than just a space shuttle launch - it was a symbol of American pride.

This is something makes this country unique. Unlike many other countries - they don't wear their patriotism on their sleeves. In fact most of the times they exhibit a strange ignorance about things happening outside their lives. Not many know much about the outside world - as it was so painfully apparent in last Novembers presidential election. But whenever something happens - a crisis the whole nation magically stands informed and united. Last fall when Florida got ravaged by hurricanes - the loss of human lives were minimal. People were asked to evacuate and everyone did. People were asked to move into the shelter and everyone did. And within hours of the storm passing by - Florida was "open for business". Everybody did what they were supposed to. This is something remarkable about American people - whatever way "we" view them - these people have a tremendous sense of duty. And an equal amount of American pride too. Its tough to see in normal circumstances - but it was clearly visible yesterday when discovery was cheered by the crowd.

And yeah - it was an amazing spectacle even from 10 miles away. The sound came minutes later - when the discovery was already a blob in the sky leaving a smoky trail. My camera with only 3x optical zoom did not do any justice to the scene - but being part of the moment was the most important thing.

All the Best - Discovery!

I think its the dream of every child to be on a space mission ( I'll talk about the "other" dream - being a train driver some other day!) - and watching hours of Star Trek reruns makes it look so easy.But for most us it remains just that - a dream only. Few persons successfully conquered the final frontier and the history is ridden with names of heroic astronauts who didn't quite do it all alive. NASA in spite of its successes has always bogged down by dramatic failures caused by simplest of things. Challenger went into flames minutes after it was launched - and Feynman serving on the inquiry commission so famously explained how it all happened. Then decades later Columbia could not make it safely to home - again caused by something as trivial as a small piece of protective padding falling off. And the smiling pictures of those brave men and women in their orange suits left an indelible impression in the mind.

Years after that tragic event - NASA started gearing up for another launch. And being with a couple of hours driving distance I felt I cannot miss the spectacle. But sadly after negotiating some crazy traffic and reaching at space mountain park, Titusville - just across the river of Cape Canaveral launch pad - found out that the launch is scraped. While it definitely is the right decision - considering that safety is the the most important factor - was disappointing nevertheless. But tomorrow is another day and they are going to try it again. It do leaves a creepy feeling to know that they are going ahead with it in spite of really identifying or fixing the problem which caused the abort first time - I guess they know what they are doing. So I would try to wake up early and be there when Discovery hopefully would light up the skies on its way to the space!