A Long-Awaited Liftoff

Stuck waiting at work once more without much in the way of news about whether the weather would prevent the space shuttle Atlantis from lifting off, I was pleased to hear on the radio news driving home that the launch had indeed happened. After a long delay which included tinkering fuel tank sensors back into shape, it's good to have that first burst of anxiety over with. In pondering that, though, I did find myself contemplating gloomy thoughts about how much apprehension I manage to generate all the while these missions are under way... and then I happened to think that I got kind of apprehensive about not just the launch of New Horizons, but also the landings of Spirit and Opportunity. I've also managed to contemplate the differences and similarities between a prop lightsabre being loaded on the last flight and NASCAR starting flags being loaded on this flight.