Endeavour....an end of an era!

Once again I trekked over to Titusville to try and catch a glimpse of the awesome wonder of the liftoff of the final flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour - STS 134 from launch pad 39A! This time we Jean Vinci went with me and we left shortly after Linda and Dennis Gingerich, to share in this wonderful event...which was on their bucket list! Check it off the bucket list, been there, done that, so glad we persevered. We got in our parking space around 11pm and we set out stuff up, went to Walgreens and tried to get a bit of sleep. The train went through four times, people wandered about with excited anticipation, cars kept coming in, car alarms would pierece the night air, the moon full, and even a police car with flashing lights pulled over a car; oh and not to mention that we watched NASA TV on the iphone! :D After a few brief hours of some rest, it was time to get back out and reclaim our area. Linda and Dennis were kind enough to get us hot coffee! The sun rose over Kennedy Space Center while dolphins fed in the intercoastal, oblivious to the people lining the shore will cameras. Time on the clock stopped, one last check. and then it was a GO!! The count down began...Once it ends its sixteen day mission in space and lands back at Cape Canaveral, it will be readied for its home in California. A very emotional day for those attached to Endeavor; those that have built it, those that have been in it, those that have enjoyed its magnificence. A special day for sure for the Commander... Mark Kelly. His wife, Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Representative who was brutally shot in the head in January at a shopping center parking lot as she was greeting everyday citizens and friends. She has fought a tough battle...from reports that she was dead, to in fact, she was alive and seriously injured, and has made leaps and bounds of progress to fly not once but twice to Florida for the launch. Remember that last months launch was scrubbed for an electrical heating issue. Today after much inspections and placing a tile on with "goo", there was a wonderful lift off...albeit to short because of the cloud cover!