Space Shuttle Atlantis

Wow, Florida has it all, Mickey Mouse, the warm sunshine, oranges and great beaches. Today we witnessed another of Florida’s wonders, the lifting off of the space shuttle. When we moved to Florida seeing the space shuttle was on our ‘To See’ list. Today was our lucky day.

Due to government cut backs of the space program, we defiantly wanted to see this last launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. Johnny’s Nursing Recruiter, who lives here in Florida, suggested a wonderful place for us to watch the launch. We had already read and heard that this would be a crowed event so we started our day very early. And good thing we did, we arrived at Jetty Park so early that we were able to park right near the beach. We had packed for a full day of beach fun.

Right at 2:15pm we called up our family back home on Skype. Our little nephew, Connor, was watching the launch on the News at the same time he could see it on his computer over Skype. Connor and his family helped us count down till the big moment. At 2:20pm out of what seemed like no where a huge fire ball was shoot up from the ground followed by a cloud of smoke.

Atlantis shot through a clear afternoon Florida sky. We read that more than 40,000 guests — the biggest launch-day crowd in years — packed the Kennedy Space Center

The shuttle's destination is the International Space Station. It should catch up with the Space Station on Sunday morning.

This 12-day mission is the last one planned for Atlantis. It returns to earth on May 26.

Atlantis — which rocketed into orbit for the first time in 1985 — is loaded with fresh batteries and a Russian-built compartment for the space station. The 20-foot-long module is crammed with food, laptop computers and other U.S. supplies.

This historic day will be in our memories for a long time. Johnny thinks its very ironic that this was our first space shuttle launch but Atlantis' last.