Twenty minutes I'll never forget -- Sitting at Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston, watching the shuttle fly from Newfoundland into the darkness over Asia. Yes. I'm an unabashed space junkie. I grew up during the race for space. I've seen on television missions from the early Mercury to ISS -- seeing the ISS and Space Lab with shuttle fly over the house. Research from these missions have affected daily life for many of us. Corningware cookware from the heat shield tile technology, medical technology to treat osteoporosis and the muscle and protein loss of aging and acute and chronic illnesses. We learned how to tweak metabolism to mitigate and even reverse such losses. I included such projects in course lectures whenever possible. Food technology in preservation techniques such as freeze drying have affected shelf life of many products. Foods on missions moved from the pureed foods served in toothpaste-style tubes of the earlier missions to the favourite, and holiday meals included in current missions -- including birthday cakes made by astronauts' mothers taken in shuttle missions and beyond.
A treasured photo of me with Dr. Roberta Bondar, Canada's first female astronaut (MD, neurologist, pilot, space medicine scientist, nature photographer) who flew in shuttle Discovery and worked on the Spacelab. In my living room, I have a framed photo of me holding the picture of Dr. Bondar and me as I stood beside that same shuttle (complete with Canadarm) at Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, VA My mom had that photo in her living room, too.
The song today addresses space travel by us and others <smile>. Stay safe. Enjoy!
Starman -- David Bowie
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