The End

SPACE CASE: All day long we had NASA TV playing. Today is the very last day there will be a space shuttle orbiting the Earth, so we wanted to soak it up as much as we could.

With scenes from space rolling in the background, the kids and I read a wonderful picture book, "Look to the Stars" by Buzz Aldrin.

We couldn't have had a more perfect book for today. Page by page, the book introduces important figures who factored largely in the eventual space program, reaching all the way back to Copernicus and Galileo, the Wright brothers and Lindberg. We learned about astronomer Edwin Hubble and the father of liquid fueled rockets, Robert Goddard. We were introduced to many of the Mercury, Apollo and Gemini astronauts and learned about Werher von Braun, who developed the Redstone rocket that put the first American into space.

Since today marked the 42nd anniversary of the day the Eagle landed and Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon, we watched old CBS news footage of the moon landing. Boy was Walter Cronkite excited!

All day, I couldn't help but grouse a bit that 42 years ago we could put a man on the moon and now, as of July 21, 2011, we can't even get an astronaut to low Earth orbit or the ISS. Heavy sigh. However, in "Look to the Stars," Aldrin included a quote of Goddard's that made me feel better about the end of the Shuttle era. Goddard said, "Just remember-when you think all is lost, the future remains."

Onward, upward!

SHUTTLE SPOTTED OVER SEATTLE: Just hours before being mothballed forever, the space shuttle flew over the Emerald City.Since there was no wind to speak of, CJ and Annabelle had to be the rocket boosters. :) They did a good job getting the shuttle skyward! THE REARVIEW MIRROR: Imagine the thoughts going through the minds of NASA astronauts as the shuttle departed the ISS for the final time. Photo: NASA

This evening, we watched Mission Control send the wakeup call to the astronauts for their final day of the mission. A different song is played every day and, in a tribute to the entire crew and all the men and women who have worked for the shuttle program over the years, the final song chosen was Kate Smith singing "God Bless America." Talk about a classic.

We'll be getting up in the middle of the night to watch Atlantis touch down.