The End of An Era: A Firsthand Account of NASA's Final Shuttle Launch

I had the extraordinary privilege of receiving an invitation from NASA's Office of Education to attend the launch of space shuttle Atlantis last week at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). It would be the final launch not just of Atlantis, but of any space shuttle as the program ends after this mission. NASA inspires a lot of students in STEM fields and representing the Afterschool Alliance at such a momentous occasion was a wonderful recognition of the work we are doing to advance STEM education and the importance of exploring STEM during out of school time.

The mood was festive in anticipation as everyone was waiting expectantly to hear whether they would be able to launch on schedule or not. Finally, the word went out that we were “Go” for launch and a huge cheer erupted from the crowd. At about T-30 seconds, there was a minor glitch and the countdown clock stopped. A hush fell over the crowd as we waited to hear whether it could be resolved in time. The shuttle was headed for the International Space Station, and there is only a small window of time everyday (just around 10 minutes) when the orbits align to make a docking possible. We were already in the middle of the window and could only afford to be delayed by 3-4 minutes before having to reschedule for the next day, but the glitch was resolved and a cheer went out again as the clock resumed its countdown. At T-6 seconds the engines ignited first, then the solid rocket boosters and before you could blink, the shuttle was off. I was amazed by how quickly it all happened and by how powerful it was. There was a huge billow of smoke, then some flames, and the shuttle rocketed upwards and reached the clouds in less than 20 seconds!

This launch was extremely emotional for almost everyone watching it. For one thing, if you are an astronomer and space geek like me, watching rocket science in action is like watching a work of art. I was struck yet again by the science and engineering that goes into these extraordinarily complicated missions. With so many shuttle launches and telescopes operating in space, it has all come to seem somewhat routine. But watching the launch brought back the wonder and was a great reminder about our talents in these fields and what we can do if we set our minds to it. I think that watching the launch inspired just about everyone there, including all the kids and students. It was an important reminder that science drives technology and technology enables science and the two are so intertwined that it is not meaningful to talk of them as separate things. 

Secondly, this marked the end of the shuttle era. The program concludes once Atlantis lands next week and the shuttles will all become museum pieces rather than workhorses of the U.S. space program. It is not clear what the future holds, but I am optimistic that this is the beginning of the next phase in the nation's space program. In these rocky financial times, it is tempting to retreat and believe that we have to solve our problems on Earth before doing anything as fanciful as studying space. But there are many practical reasons for maintaining a space program—national security for example. Another reason is that for every dollar invested in NASA, the country gets more than $20 in technology developed for its telescopes and manned spaceflight program. For instance, did you know that WiFi technology was invented by radio astronomers looking for a way to communicate better amongst themselves? Or that modern airport X-ray luggage scanners were derived from technology developed to do X-ray astronomy in the 1960s? The list of contributions goes on—check out NASA’s publication, Spinoff, for more examples.