Angie Whitehurst and Lisa Blackburn-Ullven
With Hurricane Helene reminders all around us, most thought for sure that the launch would be “scrubbed” (a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) term for delayed) a second time with rain, thunder, and dark clouds looming; but as space exploration and the University of Central Florida (UCF) enthusiast Tammy Blackburn describes, “This was an extraordinary rescue mission to bring two astronauts stranded in space back to their home on Earth.”
Watching as the rocket took off from the shoreline, someone in the audience set the tone as they played “Space Oddity” by David Bowie. Like a carefully orchestrated duet, the latest updates from mission control were announced in the foreground of a shared phone speaker.
Children were on heightened alert as rocket boosters rumbled from seemingly random directions in the sky. As I looked into the sky to try to spot the next rocket through the clouds, I could hear a child’s continuous high-pitched cry, their sensitive ears hearing a preview of what sounded like a monster truck soaring through the sky.
Even the fish were a little jumpy. I had heard that dolphins sometimes leap out of the water during launches. As I asked if anyone had seen any dolphins, about a dozen tiny fish leaped out of the water a few times as they swam forward. I had never seen a school of fish do that before. For a glimpse of the fish, the launch and to hear the frontline sound of the sonic boom, check out the video on our YouTube channel GuidedResults. https://www.youtube.com/@GuidedResults
So, why are we thanking UCF and the crew? Well, UCF was built with the space partnership in mind and to develop young minds to contribute to our ‘now’ as well as our future. Nearly 30% of the Kennedy Space Center staff is from UCF, the most in the nation. It seems like the side-by-side rescue astronaut from America and cosmonaut from Russia represent the incredible possibility for us to achieve the UCF vision of “fostering global collaboration.”
Aboard the “Freedom” capsule, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov united strengths to contribute to “the development of sustainable and innovative solutions for Earth and beyond.” Astronauts, experiencing an out-of-this-world view of our Earth from space, truly realize how rare our Earth is and also how, if we step back, we may discover that we are one. Innovations inspired by space exploration from cell phone cameras to satellite TV invite us to realize how far-reaching goals just might be possible. For those seeking hope, you can look and actually listen to what appears as the third brightest star in our sky. The International Space Station is now broadcasting back to Earth a video of children around the world singing. The creator, Topper Carew, had them sing “This Little Light of Mine.” This mission was to simply to send some light to the world.
To learn more about UCF space programs, you can view https://www.ucf.edu/space
To join us and learn more on Road Trip Stories, you can view https://linktr.ee/guidedresults
