Up, Up and Away

   It's over. The last launch has happened roughly on schedule (somewhat surprisingly, given the weather), and Atlantis is in orbit. The shuttle is something I grew up with. I had shuttle shaped toys throughout childhood. A picture of an old discovery launch taken by my mom hung on my wall until very recently. The shuttle is a symbol of what humanity can do when we work together towards a higher goal in the same way the ISS is. I can only hope  the event we've seen is, ultimately, a step forward, not a step back. I'm all for commercialization of space flight, but I hope that we're not sacrificing our capability to put humans into space for nothing. Here's to a safe final flight for Atlantis.