On The Fly

There is something different about pre-dawn this morning. Sitting in my reading chair, an almost eerie, luminous glow crept through the window, demanding to be acknowledged. Stepping outside into the quiet chill, a nearly Full Moon was sinking into the West beneath a crystal-clear sky, the Big Dipper hanging faithfully in the dark above. But looking at that Moon meant looking at a ghost. Because light takes time to travel, the Moon we see in the sky is not the Moon as it exists in this exact microsecond. It is the Moon as it looked about a second and a quarter ago. When we look up, we are forever staring into the depths of the past. And right now, somewhere in that million-mile abyss between our present and that past light, four human beings are hurtling through the vacuum of space at unbelievable speeds. Today is Good Friday. For centuries, it has stood as a profound marker of the universal human experience—a day that asks us to sit with suffering, injustice, and the "dark night ...

In this episode - Re-Discovery . . . Dateline March 1989 - Surrounded by a city of motor homes that sprung up overnight in the middle of a normally wind-swept California desert, the question on everyone’s mind was, “How will we know when the space shuttle arrives?” While searching for something to share this week, I was reminded of a significant event 54 years ago. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 successfully landed on the Moon. This event reminded me of how much the space program had captivated me. As someone who enjoys reading science fiction, witnessing mankind's greatest achievement was not a fictional experience. Edwards Air Force Base 1989 Twenty years later, Lori, my friend Bill Videto, and I embarked on a two-hour drive from Santa Monica, CA., to Edwards Air Force Base, hoping to witness the Space Shuttle Discovery touched down in California - weather permitting. Otherwise, the landing would be diverted to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Fortunately, luck was on our...