Space Shuttle Discovery Mission STS-119 launches next Wednesday

For those of you that might follow (or would be interested in learning more about) the NASA Space Shuttle program, Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch at 9 PM Eastern on Wednesday, March 11th. There's a countdown clock on the page that will keep you up to date, and lots of other info on this particular mission.

I've been a space buff all my life, and have high hopes that space exploration will continue in my lifetime, even if I personally never make it off this planet. Not that I want to leave, mind you.

Growing up with the space program has been a fairly important part of what makes me "me". I hope that in the coming years the exploration of space continues to receive the funding and support required.

Right now, I feel like our civilization has reached the equivalent of a baby just learning to stand. We've had a few spills and scrapes. We are just starting to really learn balance. Now we are at the point were we can take that next step and start walking, or we can sit back down and go about crawling around our home on hands and knees through the rest of eternity.

Let's take that next step and see what's out there. I'm curious, aren't you?