NASA Soars!

Pondering Penguin

What a magnificant sight it was to watch The Discovery land in the early morning hours, in the dark, all lit up! And flown by a woman pilot trained by the USAF. The turning move she did with the shuttle that allowed pictures to be taken of the tiles was incredible.

Could you hear the exhaling as they safely landed? We live in the normal flight pattern for a Florida landing so my son's school was part of the sad hunt for debris due to the explosion of the Challenger. They did a grid search of the playground area and sports field.

We live in Houston so there is much pride here for this national treasure. As a mom, I remember my son's first big bus trip to NASA on a field trip. We lived in Lafayette, LA so it was a long journey to little kids. They left in the pre-dawn hours and were back past normal bedtime but what an experience for second graders!

As a proud American I will tell you that my husband and son had the pleasure of escorting 2 Iraqi engineers on the NASA tour a few months ago. My husband was teaching a class for them and serving as host for their visit. What did they want to do on their day out of class? Go to NASA, of course! We are quite used to doing that for any out-of-town visitors but this was a first in international public relations for them!

This country has many blessings. NASA is right up there on the list.