Leaving on a Jet Plane

Alex at the Science Center…the only astronaut our family will ever have!

I will never understand space travel. Admire it, yes! Maybe I should more accurately say that I don’t understand those that would want to be astronauts. This is not a negative feeling, it’s just that I have never had a desire to leave this planet….my little planet of safety…lol. I assume it’s more a fear of the unknown and the million ways I could die. You know, like space radiation…like wtf is that? I’m not a stupid person (although I claim to be the dumb one in the family). I do realize that space needs to be explored for reasons other than just figuring out what else is out there. I admire those that have the brains and the ambition to forward think in an effort to “save” humanity as well as those who study the cosmos to offer explanations of our origins.

Human fascination with the unknown….well I guess I’m not that type of human. I watch astronauts/cosmonauts in awe, truly in awe. Maybe it was instilled in me from childhood. One of my core memories is sitting in the Marteen Room in grade school during my 8th grade history fair. My history project was about the NAACP and as I sat there waiting for judges to come around for me to nervously sputter my historical spiel to them, there were AV Carts with TVs coming in so that roughly 150 7th and 8th graders could see the space launch of the Challenger. Every teacher in our school had been talking for weeks about the first child educator heading into the great unknown! There was a excited buzz all morning and finally the time had come to watch History being made. I remember watching the “pre-game”, the launch, and then I didn’t know what I saw. I remember seeing an explosion, but I was 12….I don’t think I knew what it meant. The teachers in my school knew though. It was an event that shook them to their core. Lots of tears and sobbing, I remember that vividly.

So when the astronauts and cosmonaut were shown falling through the skies today I realized I don’t think I’ve truly watched a space launch or landing in years. And the closer they got to the “splash down”, the more queasy (I almost said queasier…) I felt, realizing I was waiting for the worst to happen. And all the while I couldn’t get “Leaving on a Jet Plane” out of my head. Anyone who has seen the movie Armageddon knows where I’m going here. A.J. (Ben Affleck) is getting ready to get onboard the spaceship to go save the world and badly starts singing this song to the love of his life, Grace (Liv Tyler). Watch it here: https://youtu.be/Z3JWFklREK8?si=Lmnk7f6Rb53RtV0e

Meanwhile his buddies join in making it a horrible mixture of voices. What can I say, I’m a sucker for heroic, save the world movies and I cry every time Harry gives his life to save our planet.

So as serious as the successful returning home mission was today, this song comes to mind. Anytime I think of space I sing this song in my head and thank the brave Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) for saving my home from the meteor that never happened!

p.s. I received an Honorable Mention for my History Project