Space...The Final Frontier

I've always loved anything dealing with science--even before I had heard of the word. I must've been five at the time, and had listened to the local newscast about something we had not heard about...a sonic boom. They explained it well enough that I basically understood what a sonic boom was. The news guy also said we would hear a sonic boom in Indianapolis the next day.

The next day, I happened to be out in the back yard playing in the dirt when I heard a loud BOOM! I knew what it was, but evidently the neighbors hadn't listened to the news the night before. Mrs. Keyler from next door came out and so did the Clouses--asking each other what that noise was. I piped up and told them, "Don't worry...it's just a sonic boom". They probably figured I was talking silliness.

Probably around that same time, the boys and I were watching the news--you have to remember...back then we only had three channels and at 6:00pm that's all that was on! Anyway, the news was showing the test launch of a rocket. The boys were three and four at the time; and I was five and more "worldly" than those two. They were sitting there watching that rocket getting ready to fire and then we heard the words, "FIVE... FOUR... THREE... TWO... ONE... LIFTOFF!". The rocket successfully launched. As soon as it cleared the launchpad, both boys took off like a flash. They ran to the window and looked up!

Dumb ol' boys. I had to explain to them that they couldn't see that rocket. Heck, it must've launched clear from Cape Canaveral--probably in preparation for the Mercury missions.

A few years later, 1962 to be exact, Telstar was launched. Soon afterwards, The Tornados launched a hit instrumental to go with it. I remember going out on the front porch at night to see it, and thinking what a cool thing that was--to be able to see a satellite. Wow! Later came the Gemini and then the Apollo missions where we lost our very own Gus Grissom and his crewmates during a simulation for the Apollo I mission.

It's hard to believe that just seven years after Telstar came Neil Armstrong and the first moonwalk. Mom woke us up in the middle of the night to watch it live on TV. Back then, stations weren't on 24/7 like they are now--so it was amazing just to watch something so important that the TV stations would "stay up late" to broadcast the moonwalk.

Following those missions, came the test piggyback ride for the Space Shuttle, then all of the shuttle missions--including one mission that had a horrible start and one that had a horrible finish. Now a shuttle launch barely makes the news.

Stop and think of how things have changed since we came on the scene. As a kid, all I used to see in the sky were airplanes--and occasionally a biplane. Then came that sonic boom that seemed to signal the start of something big. Things haven't been the same since.