ENDEAVOUR SHUTTLE - STS118

Just watched the launch of Shuttle STS118 (Endeavour) live on NASA TV. I haven't watched a Shuttle launch on live TV for absolutely years and watching it on-line at NASA.gov was a great new experience. It is amazing to think that the Shuttle program has been in orbit now for some 26 years, and despite the various setbacks along the way it is hard to believe that the Sun is about to set on the Shuttle program. I watched the first Shuttle launch on Tv from behind my desk at school and watching this most recent launch raised the adrenalin level a few degrees.

What an absolutely awesome ride! Eight minutes to Earth orbit and the ride of your life is worth paying for in my book. The pictures shot from the main tank camera showing Earth receding into the distance were fantastic and it reminded me of watching the film taken from the Saturn 5 launches of the Apollo program, pictures that will probably be seen again in the coming years when NASA gets the Orion project off the launchpad. It will be a sad day when the last Shuttle flight touches down because I feel that Orion is a backward step. Orion doesn't have the functionality of the Shuttle and it doesn't have the heavy lift capability of the Shuttle. NASA is going to have to rely on 1960's Russian technology for at least five years after the last Shuttle touches down whilst it recrafts its own 1960's technology to go back to the Moon and to reach out towards Mars. Retiring the Shuttle is a mistake that could prove to be very costly in the years to come, paticularly if the ISS were to develop a major problem. I sincerely hope that someone at NASA has the balls to stand up and be counted, and reverse the decision to ground the Shuttle. It still has a place and a function in the exploration of Space.