In a couple short days I will have the privilege to be working the last week of the FINAL space shuttle mission of all time: STS-135/ULF7.
Many of you have asked about the climate at NASA as the end of the shuttle program arrives in full force. The general feeling at NASA is one best characterized as bittersweet. The end of an era in human spaceflight and an ever-fluctuating direction for the future and the agency as a whole is hard on the dedicated NASA workforce - including those not involved in the shuttle program directly. There are a lot of layoffs that have occurred and the last round of them is soon to come. By the end of the shuttle "retirement phase" we will have lost much legacy manned spaceflight knowledge and more importantly, really good folks.
In my thirty-some years of life, the space shuttle has been a staple - in fact, I can't remember a time in life without the space shuttle. I remember specifically the tragedy of Challenger in 1986 as a young student and again the tragedy of Columbia in 2003 as a just-graduating new hire at NASA.
I cannot forget what it felt like watching the launch of this magnificent, engineering marvel in person. The roaring sound, the tactile feeling of the sheer power coming from her engines as she rocketed into space on her dynamic 8 minute ride. To this day I cry at the sight of it.
I will never forget how honored I have felt working in Mission Control Center for each shuttle mission over the past ten years.
Having been blessed to have been a part of this amazing program, and in general as a proud American citizen (even with her downfalls), I will miss the space shuttle dearly after the wheels have stopped upon landing. Until then, however, I will relish every second of the mission!
