I grew up in the 60′s and early 70′s during the height of the Space Race and my father worked at NASA, so I was very interested in the whole space flight subject as a child. Today, I can watch our latest space technology, the Space Shuttle, live via Internet feed on my desktop.

I am still amazed and awed by the things we humans have accomplished in space. To me, most people seem totally disinterested in this topic because the Shuttles have made space flight so common. There is still a lot of risk involved in these missions as clearly shown by the loss of Challenger and Columbia, so I have great respect for our astronauts.

Watching today’s landing on CNN.com, I am reminded of the days when astronauts came back and were given parades. If you ever get a chance to read a book by one of the Apollo astronauts, do it. My favorite one is my signed copy of The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America’s Race in Space. Those guys were incredibly brave and I think a little crazy to go through all that they did for the sake of today’s astronauts.

Skunky