Confessions of a space case

Nothing makes me happier than watching the launch of the space shuttle. To see the massive, billowing clouds of the exhaust plume from the zillion gallons of liquid fuel in the brown external tank along with the two solid rocket boosters as they hurl the shuttle assembly from a standing start to several thousand miles an hour and orbit in just a few minutes.

To hear the thunder of the rocket engines as they roar to life and seem to spring off the launch pad. To know from the description of witnesses that the noise of the rocket launch rattles you to your very core.

Unless, it is watching the space shuttle land. To watch as the "flying brick" comes hurtling down out of the sky to just feet above the landing strip, to see the landing gear pop down seemingly at the last moment and the dust clouds from wheel touchdown on the tarmac of the runway.

I grew up with in the space age. At age 10 my father would awaken me at 4:30 in the morning to watch the launch of a rocket carrying a satellite. In those days television coverage was often four to six hours long before and after the launch.

Later I watched the Jupiter C rocket carrying the Echo 1, a balloon. The plan was to bounce radio signals from the ground to the balloon and back to the ground.

I remember going outside when it was time for the balloon to pass over head so I could see it, a white dot against the blackness of space traveling among the stars. Kind of like I feel now when I see the space station gliding overhead.

There were occasions, too, where the rocket would explode on the launch pad, a memory that gave me pause when I watched the first launch of a human being into sub-orbit, then orbital flight.

I still get shivers to this day when watching a shuttle launch and hearing the communicator say, "Go at throttle up." Those were the last words used right before the shuttle Challenger exploded during launch.

My teachers told my parents to encourage my interest in science. That explains the microscope I got for Christmas, the chemistry set for my birthday (in spite of my mother's fears I would blow up the house), and the physics set containing experiments in hydrology and light.

It also explains the telescope. A small thing, a reflector with a 3-inch mirror. I couldn't see much, but what I could see fired an interest that lasts until this day for things in outer space. I guess my little brother was right. I was then, and still am, a space case.

The next space shuttle launch (at this writing) is scheduled for 1:36 a.m. EDT Aug. 25 (11:36 p.m., Aug. 24, MDT).

SKY WATCH:

New moon, Aug. 20. Jupiter is just past opposition and rises just after 9 p.m. Mercury and Saturn are just about lost in the glare of sunset. Mars visible in the east beginning at about 4 a.m. followed by glaringly bright Venus an hour later. Mars is still about two degrees from M1, the Crab Nebula, use a telescope to find the pair. Both are right above the winter, yes winter, constellation Orion, the Hunter. The Summer Triangle overhead and Pegasus rising at about 9:30 p.m. At present, all the passes of the space station are in the early morning hours. To see what time it will be over your area, point your Web browser here. There you can find your local latitude and longitude and find out what time, and from what direction you can observe the space station (and any passing space shuttles).

NEXT TIME:

More astronomical blathering.