Back on Terra Firma

Space Shuttle Discovery completed its mission and landed on Saturday. The mission helped power up the space station by delivering an array of solar panels, and they also performed a fairly gross experiment, in which they tried to recycle urine into water. I think the boys were most impressed by President Obama's call to the astronauts.

Liftoff, if a little late

Finally, the space shuttle Discovery launched, nearly a month behind schedule. This was the launch that the boys were supposed to see when they went to Florida. Hopefully, all goes well with the solar panels for the space station. I'm sure it's hard for people to be excited about space exploration right now, especially with the economy suffering, but we can never stop the pursuit of knowledge. Space is still an untapped frontier, and I hope our kids can discover more about it.

Finally, the shuttle will launch

Discovery is set to blast off tonight, according to this article in The New York Times. Originally, the shuttle was scheduled to lift off on Feb. 12, and Rob and Alex headed to Florida with their Grammy and Papa for the launch. Unfortunately, the launch was delayed (more than once), and the boys missed it, though they still had a great time on vacation.

UPDATE: The launch was postponed again, this time until Sunday, which puts a crunch on the mission.