What a thing of absolute beauty that is - one of the most powerful displays of
mankind's scientific acheivement to this point in history.
I never get tired of seeing the shuttle launch.
They had a camera mounted to the external tank this time,
what a view.

The power of that launch is astounding on a human scale;
15 minutes after launching in Florida, the vehicle is traveling over Europe...
moving at nearly 5 miles per second relative to it's launch point on the Earth.
Imagine that flight on a commercial airplane!

At the same time I salute and remember the tragedies,
but even in those, the courage of the men and women
who ride these rocket propelled space-faring craft fills me with pride.

Greg