Liftoff!

[mark_asphodel]

I can see a dozen picture-perfect blue sky launches on TV, video and postcards.

But none of that can replicate the moment when red-orange tongues of flame erupted from the base of the solid rocket boosters and Atlantis went sailing up into the clouds. None of those can capture the sound.  And the cameras cut away, never showing you the apocalyptic clouds of smoke that billow around the launch site long after the shuttle is out of sight, or the way the vapor trail twists as it drifts downwind, like a helical stairway to the stars.

I love you, OV-104.  That final flight always should've been yours.  I hope you have a safe flight home to KSC, where you belong.

Comments

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

End of an era, the magazines say, but at least it ended with the same sense of wonder that began it.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

I encountered people from all over the world in the last few days, all there to see Atlantis off. But the crowd was still less than, say, the crowd at a 1997 Red Wings parade here in Detroit. Not even one million people. Sad.

[raphiael]

It sounds pretty much fantastic. *A*

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

It was fantastic that she actually launched on time! I was pretty sure we'd be stuck there through today, let me tell you.