We went to a launch at the Kennedy Space Center last Saturday and words still fail me to adequately express the awe I felt watching such a magnificent blend of science and art. Pictures and recordings don’t do the event justice. Even from our viewing bleachers four miles from the launch pad, the intensity of the “torch” was surreal. And the sound – the crackle of the burning gases, the rumble was not heard by ears alone, but felt throughout my body. It was truly a humbling happening and one I’d gladly witness again.

But aside from the sheer glory of the spectacle, I couldn’t help but marvel at the ingenuity of the human mind and spirit to make such a thing happen. In slightly more than a hundred years we’ve progressed from very rudimentary flying machines to a rocket capable of delivering a payload into space and within minutes returning unharmed to earth, landing on a small target on a ship in the Atlantic to be readied for a future flight. It blows my mind that we are capable of such a feat. We truly are, I think, capable of anything given time, energy, the will to do so, and a connection to the Universe that allows us to “see” the way to make our dreams real.

This was a wonderful event that so surpasses all the “crap” we are also capable of. May some of us always have vision to seek the light in the dark wood.