I Guess I Didn't Miss Much

In addition to its thoroughly depressing "news" account of the landing of the Space Shuttle Discovery (headline: "Safe Landing but Fragile Future"), the LA Times ran a brief story about people that went out to the Edwards area to watch the Shuttle land. According to the paper, about fifty people (ooh, fifty people!) gathered in the predawn darkeness north of the base to watch the orbiter land. The needle on the Unintentional Comedy Meter swings pretty far on this one:

About 5:06 a.m., it happened. Boom. Boom. A sound like fireworks, or rifle blasts, as Discovery entered the atmosphere. The crowd, some gathered around a portable television, clapped and hollered.

A small white dot descended, as though a star were dropping from the heavens. It circled clockwise, and spectators tracked its journey:

"Whoo!" "There it is!" "A little dot. It's just a little dot." "I never thought it would be that high up."

On a car radio, an announcer called out: "Three minutes until touchdown," in a deep baritone.

Two little boys tried to repeat: "Three miles till touchdown."

The crowd scanned the predawn sky for the moving dot, and lost it among the stars. They never saw it again.

At 5:12 a.m., the radio announced: "Touch down. Discovery is home."

"I didn't even see it," several spectators said. "That went fast."

"Wow," was all one woman could muster, as the rest of the shuttle fans silently retreated to their cars, lugging their chairs, just as the black sky began to lighten.

I may be a NASA geek, but at least I know when it makes sense to stay home on the couch.