We have become almost as accustomed to space shuttle flights as we are to airliners carrying passengers on regular schedules.
So it’s a little disconcerting that the final shuttle flight left the International Space Station on Tuesday, as the Atlantis headed for an expected landing at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center before daylight today.
It barely seems possible that there has been a 30-year run of shuttle flights. In fact, it seems only yesterday since the beginning of the United States’ space adventures — adventures that long predated the space shuttle.
Remember when Americans first landed on the moon? Since then, we have been awed by triumph and saddened by tragedy.
We have learned a lot about space and about “geography” beyond our Earth.