Back in the 80's, kids dreamed of going on Double Dare and maybe winning a grand prize trip to Alabama to go to Space Camp, here in Florida it was a rite of passage taking a field trip to the Kennedy Space Center, we had extensive science class units on the shuttle, learning all about its bombay doors, the solid rocket boosters, the much heralded robotic arm. We always left our classrooms on shuttle days to walk out in single file lines to sports fields to catch a glimpse of Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis. We remember only too well the bitterly cold January day in 1986 when a usual launch day turned into a solemn day of grief.
I can honestly say that I viewed nearly every launch of the shuttle in some way. On TV, once or twice out at KSC, in my driveway, parking lots, school football fields and I can hardly ever remember a time when I didn't get goose bumps or a little bit of a lump in my throat. I saw the first launch of the program as a child and I was there for the last as an adult woman. Full Circle.
Maybe to some, it was a hunk of metal that cost uneccessary tax dollars and didn't always perform as it should, but to me it was special. It was emblematic of the American pioneering spirit, and here in Florida, I can tell you it was absolutely magical.
Back in 2011, when the last shuttle missions were flown, I wrote the only letter I've ever sent to the White House asking for justification of ending the program that meant so much to so many in terms of employment, tourism, and national pride. It was probably the equivalent of drunk texting, except I was only drunk and maudlin on my own tears, and I am sure that it probably never saw the light of day to anyone who mattered. But those little white spacecraft meant the world to me.
In 1981, the band Rush traveled to Florida to observe a launch of the space shuttle Columbia and they wrote the song "Countdown" to express what they felt. To me, it sums up everything about what it was like to be there, to see it. And a few years ago, a fan took the song and synced it with photos of the various shuttle missions, dozens and dozens of images. It's a labor of love, and I wanted to share it with you today as the flashback. I've included the lyrics as well. So here from 1981, is Countdown:
Lit up with anticipation
We arrive at the launching site
The sky is still dark, nearing dawn
On the Florida coastline
Circling choppers slash the night
With roving searchlight beams
This magic day when super-science
Mingles with the bright stuff of dreams
Floodlit in the hazy distance
The star of this unearthly show
Venting vapours, like the breath
Of a sleeping white dragon
Crackling speakers, voices tense
Resume the final count
All systems check, T minus nine
As the sun and the drama start to mount
The air is charged
A humid, motionless mass
The crowds and the cameras,
The cars full of spectators pass
Excitement so thick you could cut it with a knife
Technology...high, on the leading edge of life
The earth beneath us starts to tremble
With the spreading of a low black cloud
A thunderous roar shakes the air
Like the whole world exploding
Scorching blast of golden fire
As it slowly leaves the ground
Tears away with a mighty force
The air is shattered by the awesome sound
Like a pillar of cloud
The smoke lingers high in the air
In fascination
With the eyes of the world
We stare...
Wow, you stumped me with this one. I don't think I've ever heard that song.
ReplyDeleteI definitely have not seen every shuttle launch. But of course, we were watching the day of the Challenger disaster, because of the school teacher on board.
To this day, the words "go at throttle up" remain etched my memory.
I don't know enough about the program to say if it was a waste. But with a poor economy and so many other problems, I'm sure it became harder to justify a billion dollars per launch, or whatever it costs.
What I wanna know is, why did we just stop going to the moon? I mean, was it THAT boring that we decided we'd rather just go up in the shuttle and fly around for a few days.
I mean, on the moon, you could play golf, ride around in that little buggy, plant a flag, name a crater. What can you do in the shuttle? Go on a spacewalk? Big deal. It's tethered. That's like riding a bike with training wheels.
Ha, it's nice to know that occasionally I can pull a rabbit out of my hat and stump the unstumpable. The simple answer is that this is not a really WELL known Rush tune like, 'Tom Sawyer', 'Spirit of Radio' or 'La Villa Strangiato'. It was off an album called 'Signals' and in a little bit of trivia on STS 109 which happened to be Columbia's last successful mission was played as a wake-up call one morning and it was also played on STS 134 on Endeavour's final launch before retirement. It was often played here in Florida on the so-called 'hard rock' stations on launch days. You've probably seen somewhere the upside down ZETA license plate tags, that's the sort of station it would be played on. The song still makes me feel a bit teary when I here it. Man, I miss those launches...in a weird way, the shuttles did not feel like a hunk of metal, maybe because of how they were always called by name, they way they flew, the energy that went into producing a launch, they seemed to possess some sort of machine-like humanity, like the way you feel about R2D2 or C3PO..(well the way I do anyway!!)
ReplyDeleteI think I can answer about the moon launches. It was always explained to us in class, that the shuttle was to be used as sort of a mobile laboratory. My understanding is that the shuttle 'payloads' were supposed to be just that, revenue for service, meaning that companies would pay to have their satellites launched into space or for use of the lab to test out products in space. There were many, many things that were developed and tested in space that became part of everyday life, and not just novelties like velcro, Tang, and Space Ice Cream! That's what I meant about jobs, etc. So much went into those payloads, in terms of R & D, satellites to give us phones, TV, directions, etc. Weather equipment to more accurately track storms and hurricanes (very important in Fl and 'Bama I daresay!) Not to mention Fl's economy on the space coast.
Nasa's stated intention has always been that they wanted to launch to the moon again, but they lost a great deal of time after Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 1993 when the fleets were grounded for investigation. You know the government, what could be done in 2 months takes 2 years because of bureaucracy. In the end, that's what did in the space program. Government. I have great hopes of this new Space X program which is running ahead of schedule (ahem, private industry) and who knows Bone, before you shrug off this mortal coil, you may just get a chance to visit the moon!!!!