Discovery STS-133 Final Launch

Time 2:42 displays the actual take-off from the launch pad

I have not watched a shuttle launch since January, 1986.  Even then, I didn't get to watch it as it was taking off.  But just the same, it has been 25 years since I have sat down, made time for, and watched at time of liftoff to witness something that literally takes my breath away.  Today, I watched the 39th and final launch of Discovery STS-133 from Kennedy Space in Florida.  To say this was emotional for me would be an understatement.

Traveling through space was a childhood dream of mine.  I wanted to be an astronaut at the height of space fever in the 80's.  I wanted to know what it felt like to be weightless, floating through unknown territory, discovering new worlds that very view have witnessed before.  I saved up my money to buy a Cabbage Patch Kid doll that was...what else?  An astronaut.   I am not sure if it was the awe of going some place few have been before, my love for the stars at night, or whimsical musing of a child, but it was a dream...until January 1986.

Before that day in 1986, I felt anything was possible.  If I wanted to reach the stars, I would...if I wanted to see the moon and Earth, I could.  Anything and everything was possible.  After that day, I realized for the first time that maybe some things would not be possible.  

Since that day, there have been many launches.  Since that day, others have seen the Earth from a distance as you can only see while orbiting around the planet.  We now have a space station, with people who actually live in space for months at a time.  And I am still here, feet planted firmly on the ground, and will probably never know what it is like to swim amongst the stars as they do. 

I will not lie; watching that launch caused deep emotions within me.  At lift-off my hands were sweaty, heart racing.  Once the shuttle left the pad, I started to tear up at the overwhelming possibilities those on board will experience.  My eyes were clued to the computer monitor where the live stream was feeding.

Today was important, not only because of this being the final launch for a shuttle that has served it's missions well.  It was important not only because our space program is approaching it's own dusk.  The feelings the launch evoked within me, that belief, that knowledge of anticipation before liftoff, excitement at watching the engines fire up, and the relief in seeing they were able to literally leave this planet safely, had long been forgotten or suppressed.  It was important because the feelings I felt watching that shuttle take off haven't been felt since I was 9. I felt, once again, that feeling of renewed hope within my soul that all I may struggle with in my own life, all I hope and dream for, all I wish upon a star for, will be realized in one method or another.  Today, I may as well have been inside that shuttle, because I felt like I was able to finally touch the stars.