Farewell Discovery!

One of the perks of living in central Florida is that one can just step outside and watch with awe the ascension of the space shuttle into the outer space - or at least watch it disappear from our atmosphere. I watched today from my parents coastal home in New Smyrna Beach, and was surprised to see my almost year-old son watch the glowing shuttle with wonder.  I was born in Orlando on April 12, 1981 and that same day my parents, and countless others, watched the very first space shuttle blast off.  Given my connection to the shuttle, I have always been a fan.  Around here we even set our alarm clocks for the middle of the night so we can see night launches (which are the coolest).  I am so sad that we will only get to witness this amazing event two more times.

Enough of my rambling about my love of the space shuttle.  Here are a couple of pics of Discovery's final launch that I captured today:

Okay, so the last two are just the contrail, but it is really cool looking.  If you haven't ever seen the shuttle launch, try to schedule a Disney vacay for the next launch.  It is one of those things you should see before you die.