9/11/24: Where were You Moments and the Final Frontier

Every generation seems to have those moments that you always remember where you were when it happened or you heard about it.  Pearl Harbor, JFK assignation, Berlin Wall coming down and the O.J. Simpson car chase are some that come to mind.  Everyone probably has their own lists.  

But I don't think anyone can dispute that engrained in your memory is the moment when you first saw the footage of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center or the buildings coming down.  I, like most people that day was glued to the TV all day watching the coverage of the plane hitting the Pentagon and all the happenings of the day.

I was running a Navy Recruiting office in San Bernardino at the time (that's a whole other story) and my Chief told us to keep the office closed.  There was still some concerns about other attacks on military at that time.  I went into the office long enough to shut the blinds and lock everything down until we were allowed to go back to work.

9/11 is not the first time in my life that I remember as a "Where were you moment."  Back in 1986, January 28th, to be exact my 8th grade class was in the auditorium at Carlton Oaks School to watch the Space Shuttle Challenger launch the first civilian, a teacher, into space.  I was always fascinated by space flight, but by this time Shuttle launches were becoming routine so I'm quite sure I was enjoying an hour away from real classroom activities and most likely not even paying attention.  All that ended about 70 seconds later when the shuttle exploded.  I don't remember what happened after that.  We were probably taken back to the classroom rather than be exposed to the grim reality of what had just happened.

What did happen after that is my interest in space flight increased.  I followed the investigation and was excited when the Shuttle program resumed.  While i didn't watch or follow every Shuttle flight I was aware of when launches were.  When I was in Navy training in Orlando I was able to watch the rocket trail after the launches.  I was sad when the Columbia was lost on reentry in 2003.  When I've had the chance I have gone to see Space shuttle in museums in Los Angeles and Cape Canaveral.

So when the US Government ended the Shuttle program was ended in 2011 I was confused.  We were the nation that took the inspiration of JFK to send a man to the moon and return him to earth before the end of the 1960's.  We were the nation that lead the construction if the International Space Station by using our "space truck," the Shuttle to get the modules there.  Now we had no way to get our own crew up there without depending on one of our political adversaries, Russia, to give us a ride.

And now its been 13 years since the Shuttle was retired.  We have made no progress towards going back to the Moon and beyond.  Thank goodness that Elon Musk founded SpaceX to at least give us the ability to send people from this country to space again.  Progress towards space is slowly starting again.

One of those other moments that I think people remember where they were when they saw it was the Apollo 11 landing, the first time a man set foot on on another planetary surface.  It was in July, 1969, I wasn't alive to experience that moment.  But I hope we can get back there (and beyond) soon.  I do think we will.  And I hope I am able to see it.  Only time will tell.