Discovery

This is a particularly good place to read about/watch the final launch of the space shuttle Discovery. I've said it about a thousand times to everyone, but the space shuttle program is one of the most amazing human endeavors I can think of and every time I watch one launch I find myself glued to the screen, as if just by the force of watching it I could somehow help will it into the sky. I've never been able to see one of them launch in person and it isn't looking promising but maybe when I'm an old lady they'll have launches at air shows or something and I'll get to see it then, though at that point it'll be totally commonplace and everyone will be like, Wow, but look at the interstellar space planes, and Oh, Great Great Aunt Jamie, those space shuttles were so quaint! They look just like old passenger planes!

I think half of the appeal of space shuttles to me lies in the fact that they do look just like passenger planes -- except bigger and therefore more awesome. I have always been of the Executor school of thought in terms of Most Awesome Star Wars ships: the more Star Destroyer, the better (insert your own size queen joke here). Similarly, 747s are my favorite airplane. And in fact I can admit to having looked at airplane porn of the modified 747 that carries the space shuttle (whilst thinking "YO DAWG" in all caps).

From Wikipedia. OMG awesome.

But in addition to my own totally platonic feelings about huge airplanes, the space shuttles are just all around amazing. And I'm very sad to be seeing them go. So if you haven't had a chance yet, enjoy watching the video of the shuttle launch and reading about how amazing these craft really are.