Up, Up, and Away!!

No, I am not taking the space shuttle up to Michigan today, but I have some very exciting news that I wanted to share.

As you may or may not know, the space shuttle era is coming to a close next year, so there are a limited number of shuttle launches left. Living in Florida, it is such a treat to be able to step outside and see these launches - even an hour inland, on a clear day you get a very nice view of it, and night launches are even more incredible, as you see a giant orange glow lighting up the sky.

In all my years of living here, I have never made the drive out to the coast to see a shuttle launch up-close from the beach. There are a couple of reasons for this - one, is the number of other people also driving out to see the launch...I hear the traffic can be really terrible, especially coming home. Two is that, very often, launches get delayed/scrubbed for a day or more, so you've driven out all that way for nothing.

However, I decided it was high time to make an up-close launch happen. I am fortunate enough to have some "media contacts" as friends, so I am thrilled to say that Brendan, my friend Brilly (who is a NASA nut and would disown me if I went without her!), and I have been given VIP passes to view the June 13th launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor from Cape Canaveral! We are SO excited, and fingers crossed that the launch actually happens that day (especially because Brilly has to fly out of town the next day, so it's June 13th or bust!). It's a 7:19am launch, so we are going to drive out there Friday nite and stay over, and then be up bright and early the next morning. And if it goes off as planned, we will then probably go hang out at the beach for awhile until all the traffic going back to Orlando clears up.

If cameras are allowed in there, I will definitely be documenting it and will share the photos with everyone. Very exciting stuff!! Fingers crossed it all works out!