{"id":333547,"date":"2011-07-21T23:57:53","date_gmt":"2011-07-21T23:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/A-great-tribute-to-the-space-shuttle-missions-of-NASA"},"modified":"2011-07-21T23:57:53","modified_gmt":"2011-07-21T23:57:53","slug":"a-great-tribute-to-the-space-shuttle-missions-of-nasa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bobbijowoods.com\/?p=333547","title":{"rendered":"A great tribute to the space shuttle missions of NASA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

A great tribute to the space shuttle missions of NASA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“It is difficult for the average human to even grasp the concept of sailing into the complete unknown. Imagine setting off in a boat across the sea with no way of knowing if there even was an other side to reach. We’ve accomplished so much, in so little time.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(via Amber Naslund)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Originally shared by Matt Ridings (Matt Ridings – Gmail)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dear NASA: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Oct. 1st, 1958 you were born. With a stated objected of accomplishing “the expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Less than 11 years later, and only 45 Days after I was born, you landed on the moon. THE MOON! The notion that men and women would put themselves on the line in such a blatantly risky way just so that we could advance our understanding of mans place in this universe has always held me in awe. The brashness of the human spirit to think that it can accomplish these things, and then actually<\/strong> do them is nothing short of incredible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now, 42 years later, It is difficult for the average human to even grasp the concept of sailing into the complete unknown. Imagine setting off in a boat across the sea with no way of knowing if there even was<\/strong> an other side to reach. We’ve accomplished so much, in so little time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Can you imagine a world in which it hasn’t been completely mapped? Only by securing our vantage point above the earth were we able to achieve the perspective necessary for mapping, GPS, intercontinental communications to the most remote areas of the planet. Most of you viewing this right now are viewing bits and bytes that have traveled into space and back. We’ve commodotized it to such a degree that our car radios now play music bouncing off of satellites while we speed down the road. SATELLITES for gods sake! A word that prior to our entry into space only related to heavenly bodies in orbit around its primary. We now make<\/strong> those. The improvements in weather forecasting due to satellite technology alone have literally saved countless millions of lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Weeks after that historic Apollo 11 mission to the moon, you put forth the bold plan of what the post-Apollo era would look like. You recommended the development of a space station in Earth orbit, a reusable Space Shuttle, a Moon base for permanent occupation, and a manned mission to Mars. Unfortunately, during this period we went into the economic crises of the 70’s, but one thing survived intact from the original plan. The space shuttle. Thus the STS (space transportation system) program was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On April 12, 1981, John Young and Captain Bob Crippen, lifted off for the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia while the world held its collective breath. We once again willingly strapped ourselves to explosives and launched from the platform, going from 0 to 17,500 mph in 8.5 minutes. SEVENTEEN. THOUSAND. MILES. PER. HOUR. The ship was appropriately named after the Columbia Rediviva, the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, which oddly enough was also commanded by a brave man named John.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 1984 we cut our personal barrier to space and untethered ourselves from the shuttle and floated alone in space, making a man an orbiting satellite for the first time as he wore the ‘Manned Maneuvering Unit’. Can you imagine that feeling? Alone. Disconnected. In the vast emptiness of space? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Jan. 28th, 1986, they broadcast (via satellite of course) a Shuttle launch into school systems nationwide that wanted to watch and participate. It was an exciting time for the students because the first teacher ever to go to space was going to be on board this shuttle and would talk with us and answer questions. Imagine, a regular person from a normal walk of life being selected to fly into space! How far we had come that it was possible to not have a very specialized skillset and a lifetime of training necessary to make a space flight. I sat in a classroom eagerly watching the launch live with a grin plastered to my face… when suddenly Challenger exploded killing everyone on board. Millions of students like myself were stunned into silence, not knowing how to act when faced with what we’d just witnessed. Then again in 2003 another disaster, another seven people lost. Those were real people. People we’d been studying about and watching live video of only moments before. People that we planned on talking to later. People with spouses and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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People. It always comes back to people doesn’t it? To the thousands of men and women who concepted, built, and executed the phenomenal achievement known as the space shuttle program, I’d like to offer my gratitude. You inspired myself and countless others to reach for those proverbial stars. To know that one can overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable. And to know that if you put the right people into the same room, you truly can fit a round peg…or air scrubber… into a square hole. Those lessons are carried with us throughout our lives, and passed on to those coming behind. It is with those lessons that the inspired man makes change. And that<\/strong> is something you cannot put a price tag on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Farewell old friend. You will be missed. I can only hope that the next generation of your kind finds its way back into the hearts and minds of the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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-Matt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Hope Franklin<\/p>\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A great tribute to the space shuttle missions of NASA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-333547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bobbi-jo-woods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobbijowoods.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobbijowoods.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobbijowoods.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobbijowoods.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobbijowoods.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=333547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bobbijowoods.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobbijowoods.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=333547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobbijowoods.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=333547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobbijowoods.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=333547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}