SpaceX and Falcon Heavy First Launch

On Tuesday, February 6th, 2018, SpaceX launched the most powerful rocket since the Apollo 17 slipped the surly confines of Earth's gravity on December 7th, 1972. It's been a long time coming.

Image via SpaceX.

I wasn't alive for Apollo. I grew up in the era of the Space Shuttle, with fond memories of its distinctive double sonic boom rattling the walls of our Southern California house for missions that recovered to Edwards Air Force Base. Yesterday, my kids stopped their schoolwork to watch the most powerful vehicle on earth launch a red convertible and a spacesuit into orbit. So did most of the office.

The best part though, was watching the two boosters recover on their pads. If the sight of a pair of  140 foot telephone poles dropping out of the sky like thunderbolts from the hand of Zeus, only to drop landing legs, fire rockets and land in perfect synchronicity doesn't stir something deep in the soul, then check your pulse, because you may be dead.

Here's to the future, and many landings to come.

Lest We Forget How Amazing This Really Is

I know there's a lot of bad and difficult news going on right now, so sometimes, it's worth reminding ourselves that there is also some amazing, insanely cool stuff going on too.

Like this. SpaceX has successfully landed so many rocket first stages that it's becoming commonplace.

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Think about what you're watching. That rocket went into space, then disconnected from the second stage that's pushing a cargo capsule up to an orbital space station. That first stage turned around, dropped back through the atmosphere, and landed flawlessly on its tail, like a 1950's science fiction movie come to life.

And it's happening often enough to become kind of boring to people who don't routinely geek out over aviation and space stuff.

The next steps are even better. The Falcon 9 Heavy is coming, and with it, landing three of these first stages almost simultaneously. Even better, the focus of the Falcon 9 Heavy is getting people to Mars. Mars! The last man walked on the moon years before I was born, but it's looking more and more likely that people are going to walk on Mars in my lifetime.

My grandchildren (let's not jump the gun here, mind you, my oldest child is ten) may have the opportunity to be colonists on an entirely different world!

Look, I'm not saying that the future's all sunshine and roses, but there's a whole lot to look at right now and realize that in a lot of ways, this is an incredible, exciting time to be alive, and we're blessed just by that fact alone.