The End of an Era

Today marked the final launch of the space shuttle program.  At almost 11:30 this morning, Atlantis safely lifted off from Kennedy Space Center marking the end of an era.

We joined friends at the beach to share this historic moment with the million or so spectators who lined the Space Coast.  The weather has been iffy lately and we were not sure that the shuttle would even go today.  Happily for us and the many, many visitors who made a special trip to Brevard County, we were treated to a beautiful launch.  The cloud cover did not interfere with our view, thankfully!  And there were no storms in the area to delay lift off.

J was able to take the day off to join us at the beach.  He brought his longboard along for a little surf session before launch.

We met three other families for a play date of sorts.  The children were so happy to see one another!  They had a great time running from the surf to our chairs and back again.  It was fun watching them all interact.  One little girl brought a packet of astronaut ice cream to share.  Wildman loved it, Cutie Pie was not so sure about it…

It was also nice catching up with the adults.  Two of the moms who met us are pregnant and they looked so lovely.  Time flew by as it always does at the beach amid a flurry of games, snacks, lunch and conversation.  As we packed up to leave after three hours of sandy fun, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit sad that we’ll never be able to use a shuttle launch as a reason for an impromptu play date again.

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Godspeed Endeavour

Second to last shuttle launch on a glorious spring morning on Florida’s Space Coast!

The shell-seekers got to be late to preschool today.  I hope they remember going to the beach to see the shuttle launch.  We are so lucky to live here to witness history.

Discovery Launch

I realized that I never blogged about the last launch of space shuttle Discovery.  On the afternoon of February 24th my friend, B, and I walked from her house to the beach to watch it. We piled the little ones into her red wagon.  Wildman walked and B’s son rode his bike.  Parking at the beach access was a nightmare so we were thankful to be able to walk from B’s house.

The kids passed the time before launch by playing in the sand and surf.  They were a complete mess requiring a good hose down by the time we got back.

Cape Canaveral juts way out into the ocean to the north of us so we end up with a pretty awesome view of space shuttle and rocket launches from our own backyard essentially.  Unfortunately, the weather was a bit overcast of the 24th.  We managed to see the liftoff but the shuttle got lost in the cloud cover soon after.

Can you believe there are only two more shuttle missions left?  I find it incredibly sad…