The Associated Press: NASA on track for Monday space shuttle launch

The Associated Press: NASA on track for Monday space shuttle launch: "NASA on track for Monday space shuttle launch

By MARCIA DUNN (AP) – 10 hours ago

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has cleared space shuttle Atlantis for liftoff Monday on a trip to stock up the International Space Station with several years' worth of spare parts."

I don't know about the rest of the world ... and maybe I don't really care, but I am so sad that the shuttle program is ending. I know that it must, and should, but I grew up in the midst of this adventure and I'm having trouble imagining a time when the shuttle will not be blasting off. I didn't miss a lunch for the first ten years, then I got busy with family and such, but recently with NASA TV streaming on the Internet I've been able to watch every launch. I love the spectacle, but it's the dream, the adventure, as some one said, breaking the bonds of the earth, that really gets me. Back int he mid 90's when NASA sent the first mission to repair the Hubble, we were getting NASA TV thorugh ourt cable provider. I didn't sleep for three days. The astronauts were working when the US was sleeping ... but I wasn't sleeping. I watched every minute of the space walks on that mission. I sat, rapt with the wonder of human beings working in space. When the mission was over I canceled the cable. I was hooked and would never have gotten any sleep if I had access to that. Six more missions. Oh, yeah, I'll be watching all of them.