Thursday, July 18, 2019

Reflection

As you've probably heard, this week marks the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's historic first steps on the moon.

This is so remarkable to me on so many levels. I was a kid for that historic step, but still remember watching all the events unfolding on television. As an adult, and as a recent visitor to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, I'm even more in awe of what was achieved by, not only those who took that amazing journey, but by all the people who supported that effort.

On that recent trip to Florida, one of the exhibits that pulled at my heart was the exhibit hall that held the Space Shuttle Atlantis - the ACTUAL space shuttle itself! And within that exhibit an area that paid tribute to those 14 special people who died in the two space shuttle disasters.



Each of the heroes lost has a dedicated space in the exhibit which includes personal and professional items that had importance to each individual.

The exhibit case pictured below, as a close-up, and above includes items that belonged to Michael P. Anderson, a native of Plattsburgh, NY, which is a short drive from my home in central New York.

His 'Star Trek' lunch box speaks volumes of his passion for space travel from an early age. Makes you wonder what today's future heroes are consuming from the media. Captain America, perhaps? That'd be okay!



And the display dedicated to Kalpana Chawla, also part of the ill-fated Columbia crew, touched my heart. She was an avid bird-watcher, and her favorite book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, is one of my all-time favorites, too.

These exhibits touched my soul because they show each Shuttle astronaut's humanity. These were real people with real passions and dreams who probably didn't consider themselves as any kind of extra-ordinary role models or heroes.



Awright. I've been knocked off the internet at least three times since I've started this article. I'm using the data package on my mobile phone (an invention that probably wouldn't have come about if not for the space program) to access my message-writing software. I hope I haven't bored you too much with my musings. 

Happy Stitching
Joan

I'll have more stitchy stuff to report next week.

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