Clint Dantinne.com
With my dad by a shuttle engine at Marshall Space Flight Center (December 26, 2010)
I have always been fascinated with the mysteries of space. Born just 54 days before Neil Armstrong would be the first human to step on the moon, 1969 was the climax of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. I would someday be feet away from Buzz Aldrin, talking of his Apollo 11 moon mission, while attending a convention in Las Vegas. A little more than a decade after the historic moonwalk, a television set was brought into the classroom on April 12, 1981. My teacher explained the significance of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Unlike rockets, these new shuttles would be reused. I watched the initial shuttle launch live on television. Around that time period, I received as a gift the Fisher-Price Alpha Probe based on the new shuttle. Five years ahead, I just happened to be home as school was cancelled due to snow. It was Tuesday, January 28, 1986. I watched throughout the entire day the media coverage of the Space Shuttle Challenger’s in-flight breakup 73 seconds after launch which killed all seven crew members. John Denver would write and sing a song honoring the space pioneers called “Flying for Me.”
I would come to see two shuttles launch in person and from a considerable distance. In the wee hours of December 2, 1990, I watched from Orlando (over 40 miles away) as Columbia pierced the night sky. I was at Vista Way apartments while participating on the Walt Disney World College Program. Outside the apartment, a bunch of friends gathered. My brother Matt, visiting for a couple days, joined us as we listened to the countdown on a local radio station. The blackness of the sky turned bright as a trail of fire made its way up turning east. I would see another shuttle launch, Atlantis, the following summer on August 2, 1991 in daylight again from the Orlando area.
Thirteen years after seeing a nighttime launch of Columbia, the 28th mission of the spacecraft concluded in yet the second shuttle tragedy. Unlike the Challenger’s launch disaster, this time it was the re-entry of the Space Shuttle Columbia that disintegrated over Texas resulting in the death of yet another seven crew members on February 1, 2003.
In addition to visiting the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, I have been to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. My brother-in-law is a Special Agent for NASA Office of Inspector General at Marshall. While visiting their family in Alabama during the December holiday 2010, he gave me and my dad a tour of the facilities. I received a copy of the 'COLUMBIA: Accident Investigation Board Report 1 - August 2003' book and DVD.
On July 8, 2011, I watched the live launch broadcast of the final shuttle mission. The Space Shuttle Atlantis would be the end of manned shuttle space missions. Almost two weeks later, I saw the televised landing on July 21 marking the conclusion of this chapter in America’s space program.
Posted: October 3, 2011