I was able to take a very abbreviated trip (by these standards) to the East Coast this summer to catch up with family and friends. Only a week and a couple of weekends to travel from Baltimore up to Boston and around, surrounded by single days lost to crossing the country.
One interesting note on the flight out; I connected through Houston and there were a couple of astronauts on that flight...well, I recognized two, anyway. I was sitting at the gate early on the first morning waiting for the sun to arrive and the plane to depart when a woman that looked like Marsha Ivins sat down several seats away at the same gate...I did a double take, but wasn't sure. It could just be that I haven't had enough coffee...
...except that a few minutes later, Scott Horowitz walked in and sat down next to her. The last time I was this close to astronauts was probably when I got a pass onto NASA Dryden to see the STS-40 landing in 1991 (that crew made a few remarks before leaving to go back to Houston).
Not wanting to be too intrusive (OK, I'm shy), I didn't approach them while they were sitting at the gate, but when we were in line for boarding the plane I did ask Mr. Horowitz "how many astronauts are on this flight?" He was gracious, introducing himself (when I made no attempt to) and I was able to mention to him that I saw the STS-105 launch in person. (He commanded that mission.) I asked him whether they were in Southern California on vacation (they weren't) and he asked me if I was going to Houston (I wasn't).
But that was that...there was no way I was going to be able to ask the bazillion questions I would have loved to ask him or Ms. Ivins. (In a way, I imagine that they've probably already answered a lot of those questions in the public record.)
I knew going in that there wouldn't be time to get to do a bunch of things, but then I'm not particularly interested in that. I wanted to catch up with everyone I could in the time I had; plus, I'd done a lot of sightseeing especially in these areas in the past few years. So the trip ended being a couple of days in one place and then go to the next. For the most part, the driving was uneventful...except for getting onto Long Island.
Last Revised: 18 August 2004
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