Blast Off!
My family and I sent my Dad to go see the STS-130 launch of Space Shuttle Endeavor. The germ of the idea came from a day I sat down with the lovely @ShayWade around Christmastime and asked a simple question, “Instead of just buying stuff, what if we enabled a family member to do something they have always wanted to do?”
My Dad is a no nonsense guy who places his family above himself and is one of the most selfless guys I’ve ever known. He would drop everything and help the rest of us out with anything we needed, not asking for anything in return. In fact, his modesty and selflessness make it pretty hard to figure out what to get him for Christmas. My sister and I often say that the ideal gift for Dad is something he really wants, and can’t possibly return.
He loves things that fly. He spends his free time, such as it is, looking at birds and airplanes outside and on the Discovery and History Channels. We have tried tapping into his love for flight before, but he wasn’t too excited about hang gliding or pilot’s lessons. So this time, we thought we would explore a trip for Dad that involved flight without involving him piloting himself.
I have 2 friends in Alex and Gavin who I met through work and will become actors in this story. My wife and I started to consider a trip involving the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), so I instinctively contacted Alex, who lives with his wife near KSC. Alex told me about the different types of activities KSC offers, and Gavin inspired me over lunch talking about his recent shuttle viewing experience. After those conversations, I was locked in. This was it. My Dad was going to see a shuttle launch.
The logistics weren’t very friendly to shuttle launch hopefuls coming in from out of town. Alex and the KSC information desk warned me repeatedly about the likelihood of a scheduled launch being scrubbed and postponed, sometimes for weeks or months. Some of the other KSC offerings, such as the Astronaut Training Experience (ATX) and the Lunch with an Astronaut, seemed like better bets than putting all of our eggs in the shuttle launch basket.
And that was assuming we could even get tickets. There are 2 classes of tickets: obstructed view from the KSC Visitor’s Complex, and unobstructed Causeway view. I counted down the days until the next shuttle launch: STS-130 and the Space Shuttle Endeavor. The plan was always to tell my Dad about this on Christmas, which happened to fall before the tickets went on sale. We decided to go ahead on faith and tell him on Christmas.
“Son of a bitch!” is not something I ever expected to hear from my Dad, who is mellowing with age. And yet, it was the best son of a bitch I’ve ever heard. He was truly excited, and he never gets excited about a present! This was getting good–now it HAD to happen. I dreamed dreams of shuttle launches for the next 2 weeks, waiting for the day the launch view tickets went on sale to the public. On a brisk Wednesday morning, Sharon and I sat faithfully by our terminals, fingers poised on the “Purchase” button… and watched helplessly as the launch view tickets sold out in 2 minutes. All the wind went out of my sails. This couldn’t be.
Enter Alex, stage left. Alex has friends in high places, and with a single stroke got my Dad a Causeway launch ticket and restored my faith in humanity. Without his knowledge, my Dad had gone from not going to going in a matter of one day, and received an invitation packet (courteously requesting his presence at the launch) directly from NASA!
In the midst of my mental celebration, Alex reminded me about the possibility of launch postponements. Sharon and I busied ourselves getting Dad’s flight, hotel and car arranged, and booked him Saturday, Sunday and Monday night for an early morning Sunday launch. We gave him as much time as his wife and job would allow, so now it was up to the fates.
Dad arrived with a look of anticipation, dropping my Mom off to stay with us while he went to fulfill one of his lifelong dreams. The snow held off in our area, we got him off OK and he called from sunny Orlando several hours later, ready to see the last night launch of the NASA Space Shuttle program. The weather appeared to hold, but the launch was postponed due to low cloud cover.
Meanwhile (back at the Hall of Justice), I couldn’t sleep, checking the KSC Twitter feed looking for news about the launch. My Dad, still as optimistic as ever, took a nap and spent Sunday at the Visitor’s Complex. Sunday night the air of anticipation began again, as the postponement put the new launch schedule on for ~4am Monday morning. I fell asleep hoping that the clouds would clear, and woke up at 5:35am to see this picture:
Overjoyed, I text my Dad “Blast off!” and get an immediate call back from a guy who sounded like a kid, so excited to have seen the launch. That moment for me has to rank in the top 5 of my lifetime moments. My Dad has done a lot for me, and I am happy I could do something for him.
He topped off the stay by having lunch with retired astronaut John Fabian and touring the Visitor’s Complex. He got back to our home, spent an afternoon telling us all about it (and showing us photos and souvenirs!) before heading back home to Massachusetts, barely missing another snowstorm.
It was a magical time all around, and even though this was a personal thing, I hope by publishing this that some other son or daughter out there will think to do something nice for their parents. It is worth it. And thanks to everyone who helped make it happen!
Here is a launch video from the Kennedy Space Center YouTube account. Beautiful.



















