Shuttle Salute
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the sunny, windy, brisk island of Nantucket! Great to be with you and yours on this Wednesday morning here in Cotuit, ‘where the ocean meets the wood’, the eighteenth day of April, 2012, a glorious, marvelous day, if I may use such colorful adjectives, on Cape, a far cry from yesterday; refreshing northeasterly winds usher in some natural ‘air conditioning’ from the cool waters just outside of my window… Yesterday, around the 11 a.m. hour on the east coast, the Space Shuttle “Discovery” took it’s last flight up that east coast, piggy backed on a jumbo jet named “Pluto 98″, making it’s way to OUR nation’s Capitol, Washington D.C., where it would eventually find it’s new home in the Smithsonian Museum where visitors from around the world will be able to marvel at it’s 39 missions up close and personal on April 19th, 2012–clocking 149 million miles in space (equivalent to one continuous year in orbit), with ‘ner a mishap. Before it did that however, spectators, I mean law makers, from the ‘non partisan’ Capitol Hill to those citizens on roof tops were treated to what most pilots refer to as a ‘fly by’, Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun” style if you will, flying low with landing gear up, something one rarely sees in this modern day world of robot like auto pilot, as it almost hovered, in slow motion, over the National Mall, cruising only a few hundred feet above the beloved Jefferson, MLK, Lincoln and Washington memorial/monuments, marking the bittersweet end of an era, literally closing the chapter on a quarter of a century of space travel that began with the Shuttle’s first lift off in 1984, with this same space ship known around the globe as “Discovery”, all under the backdrop of an uncertain future for NASA and all of the wonderful people who make up that inspirational organization. A few of the astronauts interviewed in a story that sadly gained little to no public attention, stated on the only cable stations seemingly covering said historic event (MSNBC and CNN), “…it was a bittersweet moment, for this ‘champ’ flew those 39 missions without incident and allowed our earthbound (sometimes) collective mind to ‘discover’ new heights, pushing mankind’s pioneering spirit to a whole new level, creating the International Space Station, allowing for that spirit to continue it’s never ending quest to unlock the mysteries of the universe…”. We, here at seacapecod.net salute all of the astronauts over the years, from Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong (“…that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”), of Apollo 11 fame, touching down on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969, to the final shuttle to be decommissioned, the “Enterprise”, later on this week. Their efforts have inspired kids of all ages from around the world to become more interested in not only this world, and all the elements that make it up, but worlds that are beyond even our imaginations, bringing the science fiction television series of Star Trek alive, ever reminding ourselves, “to boldly go where no man has gone before…”. To quote “James T. Kirk” commenting on his first encounter with “Spock”, speaking to the Enterprise’s on board physician, “Bones”, “…who was the pointed eared bastard?” “I don’t know, but I don’t like him…”. Have a nice day folks and remember that peace, joy and LOVE are yours by birthright, and no joke of a politician can take that away from you or yours, EVER!… PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
