Rocket City — A wish (almost) fulfilled

Finding the future in Huntsville, Alabama

I just came back from Huntsville, Alabama, where I confess that I wanted to punch an 8 year old. In fact, I fantasized about pushing, shoving, tripping, and otherwise forcing multiple kids out of my damn way. I do not apologize, but I will explain.

The United States Space and Rocket Center has been on my bucket list before that was a term people used and way earlier than any reasonable person should be thinking about death. Since I was in the single digits I’ve been wanting to visit the home of some of the greatest minds and bravest men in American history.

The 363 feet tall Saturn V rocket peeks out over the highway as you approach. A view that I didn’t get tired of; I drove back and forth more than a few times on that road just so I could gawk with teary eyes at one of the most powerful, complicated, and important machines in human history. 50 years ago this July one of her sister rockets brought Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the surface of the moon.

Adjectives fail to describe just how emotional being in Saturn’s shadow was for me. At the end of the day, when I was forced by closing time to leave the Center, my jaw hurt from smiling all day. The whole place was a celebration of science, discovery, American ingenuity…