Since I was about 13 I've always been a fan of NASA and space exploration. In 1995 I attended Space Camp in Huntsville Alabama. One of my earliest memoeries of being fascinated by NASA and what they do was staying up late into the night to watch one of the first Hubble Telescope repair missions (STS-61). Story Musgrave lead the spacewalking, just about every move he made was something that had never been tried on orbit before. That's just one of the many examples of something I've watched NASA and humans in space over the years that reaffirming my belief that if you pay close enough attention the real thing is always cooler than SciFi!

For me growing up the symbol of NASA, and Americans in space has always been the shuttle, I like many have taken for granted that it's just always been there. Now as the program draws to a close I regret deeply not making attending a launch in person a higher priority. I was however lucky enough to be accepted into NASA's launch tweetup (NASATweetup) for STS-132 the launch of Atlantis. Below are some pictures from that amazing quite honestly once in a lifetime experience.

I had the privilege of being out at the NASA Causeway (7mi from the PAD) for the final launch of the shuttle program, STS-135. The orbiter was Atlantis which I had seen about a year prior on my first shuttle launch ever STS-132 at the NASATweetup. I was lucky enough to be standing near someone with a radio and captured the whole 33 seconds drama, a cool piece of history I think.

After reading Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars Trilogy" I became very intersted in and an advocate for the exploration of Mars. Not just exploration though but colonization, ultimately I believe that is what the end game of humanity's push into the stars must be. Technology transfer, inspiring our youth, are noble goals but in the end our civilization must branch. It's been said that something doesn't exist unless it exists in two or more places. Think about that for a minute...then consider humanity fails this test.