Yoo 335 - On Being A Space Nerd

It's no secret that I wanted to be an astronaut growing up.

(mucho thanks to the katiefriend for photoshopping that one years ago...)

Ever since I saw Apollo 13 on Christmas in 1995. I was eight. And it changed me. That next summer I proceeded to read every space book in the library and turned my room into a mock solar system, complete with note cards filled with "Planetary Facts" taped to the walls. I assembled a model space shuttle that I convinced my mom to buy me at a garage sale. (oh was that ever a find!). I drooled over space camp brochures. And read that book/watched that movie more times than I will admit. I also owned a star projector.

I was truly captivated.

But how could I not be?? Space exploration is so cool! And Apollo 13 is an amazing story...so many emotions! These astronauts, filled with dreams of walking on the moon and exploring another world, suddenly found themselves stranded in a bleeding ship hundreds of thousands of miles away in space. They had to work together with a team of men, average age of 26, to solve problem after problem and mitigate risk after risk, just to get back home. To this planet.

We're talking about being in space, here. Outer space.

!!!

That "Successful failure" aside, I still think the Apollo program is one of mankind's shinier achievements. Fueled by Kennedy's "man on the moon by the end of this decade" charge (delivered just weeks after Al Shepard's first 15-minute spaceflight, no less), we built and tested the technology, developed the procedures, and overcame all the obstacles.

Men have walked on the moon!

These are the things you get excited about and ponder on as a space nerd. I can't look at the moon without thinking "we've been there!". I wonder what it would be like to hop around in that environment. To see the brilliance of the stars while orbiting the dark side. To explore its craters and mountains. To stand there and look back on earth.

How trivial would my day-to-day problems seem? What kind of perspective would I gain? How much more thankful for my home on this beautiful, sustaining planet would I be?

Somewhere along the roads of life, I lost sight of my astronaut dream. Other things replaced it. But I never lost my passion for space exploration. I still read every book and biography on the subject. I still visit the space centers and museums with unbridled excitement. I still try to imagine what it would be like to walk on the moon. I still go a little paparazzi when I see astronauts for reals. I even trekked across the country to watch one of the last space shuttle launches.

Also, my living room might be decorated with space pictures?

True story.

A few more confessions. Alan Bean is my favorite artist. All of my coffee table books are space picture books. (there's one fighter jet book in the mix). I think it's stupid that New York City got a space shuttle. And DC. (they already have one!). And I once skipped out on work to watch a piggy-backing space shuttle make a refuel stop at Lackland Air Force base in town.

(that is cool, admit it)

But the biggest of all? Apollo 13 is still my favorite movie and I can't watch it without crying. <-- big confession, be nice...also this might have been reconfirmed this weekend

(and now i will be really sappy and cheesy at the same time. here i go!)

Apollo was over 40 years ago. I think it's time space nerds of this generation had something to get excited about again...

Jim Lovell's character says it all. "I look up at the moon and wonder, when will we be going back, and who will that be?"

Space nerd transmission complete. For now.

Have a great day :-)