Liftoff!

We have liftoff! A few nights ago, we stood in our driveway looking up at the northeastern sky watching the ball of fire that was SpaceX Dragon lifting off into space…with four civilians aboard! So many people take this amazing feat for granted! The manned space program is 60 years old this year…the Soviets sent the first person into space in 1961. Ever since those first rockets blasted off, I have been fascinated with the space program, beginning with Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. I vividly remember watching the first man in space, Alan Sheppard, walk on the moon. I was hooked! 

Then there was the Space Shuttle era. My wife and I drove across the state more than once to see it blast off. What a powerful feeling to experience the ground shake and the sky light up and see the bright streak across the sky. Over 30 years, NASA's space shuttle fleet—Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour—flew 135 missions and carried 355 different people to space. As humanity's first reusable spacecraft, the space shuttle carried people into orbit repeatedly; launched, recovered and repaired satellites; conducted cutting-edge research; and built the largest structure in space, the International Space Station. And now we have commercial and private space transportation with the SpaceX Dragon and the like. Have you seen the SpaceX booster rockets land simultaneously back on a barge in the Atlantic? Fascinating, as Spock would say!

Man's interest in space started long before the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Humanity's interest in ‘the heavens’ has been universal and enduring. Fascination with the idea of people going into the sky for adventures in other worlds goes back to ancient myths. Science flourished during the European Renaissance. Fundamental physical laws governing planetary motion were discovered, and the orbits of the planets around the sun were calculated. In the 17th century, astronomers pointed a new device called the telescope at the heavens and made startling discoveries.

And humans are still driven to explore the unknown, discover new worlds, push the boundaries of our scientific and technical limits, and then push further. And now, we are on Mars! Mars has always been a source of inspiration for explorers and scientists. Robotic missions have found evidence of water, but if life exists beyond Earth, it still remains a mystery. And I love a good mystery!

Future historians will likely view these pioneering flights through the solar system as some of the most remarkable achievements of the 20th century.

We have the NASA app installed on our smart TV and iPads and routinely watch the latest. Also, I highly recommend at trip to The Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral if you haven’t been yet! And until we make the move to live in space, I am still available to help you buy and sell homes in Sarasota, Florida and surrounding area!