The Space Shuttle Discovery's final flight

On April 17th we had the honor of watching as the retired space shuttle Discovery made its last flight, ever. With NASA's space shuttle program formally ending last year, this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we got to witness it with our very own eyes.

With the final flight scheduled to happen starting at 10am, I packed up the girls and we headed down to Alexandria to watch the shuttle as it flew over the Potomac River. At 9:55am we were approaching the waterfront when the people on the street beside us started shouting and pointing to the sky. We looked up just in time to see the planes passing by, flying east. We picked up our pace and started booking it to the water, hoping they would turn around.

At 9:59am, just a minute or so after we made it to a spot by the water, the shuttle was on its way back. We screamed and pointed and watched as this iconic moment flew by before our eyes.

It was pretty awesome.

After it flew by we hurried to meet up with our Panter people and went to get an even better view from the roof of a nearby building.

It never flew by directly over the Potomac again, but we got to see it off in the distance, flying low over those trees on the other side of the river. 

You can just barely see it above the tree horizon...one last time. 

It's not very often that you get to personally witness something that the rest of the world watches on t.v. It was really cool. Brief. But cool.

And as I came home, reflecting on the days events and discussing our country's space program, my thoughts drifted to the men who flew before, to even make the shuttle program possible.

The story of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders....the very first humans to leave Earth's orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body, the first to return to Earth from another celestial body—Earth's Moon, and the first to see Earth as a whole planet. Yeah, those are some pretty impressive credentials. THE.VERY.FIRST.HUMANS.EVER! As in, the history of the human race. Blows my mind.

But while they were up there, flying in the Heavenlies, having gone where no man had gone before and witnessing sights no one had ever seen before them...they didn't say how awesome they were for having done it. They didn't toot their own horns or praise their own accomplishments....they praised another......

Christmas Eve 1968

086:06:40 ANDERS: "We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send you."


"In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth. And the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said, "Let there be light" And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness."

086:07:29 LOVELL: "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, "let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. And let it divide the waters from the waters." And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."

086:08:07 BORMAN: "'And God said, "Let the waters under the Heavens be gathered together into one place. And let the dry land appear." And it was so. And God called the dry land Earth. And the gathering together of the waters He called seas. And God saw that is was good."

"And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas and God bless all of you-all of you on the good Earth."

It doesn't take an astronaut to figure out that God is the creator behind all that we see. It does, however, take someone willing to believe in something bigger and greater than themselves. It takes someone who can look at this world and universe and recognize that it didn't all happen by accident. I love, that as the very first men blessed to leave this earth and gaze upon it from a perspective the majority of us will never see...they took their God given platform to proclaim His handiwork for our whole nation to hear. They could have said anything. But they took this iconic moment in human history to give credit to God, the maker and creator of it all. To boast of His accomplishments.

And that's what it's all about. That's exactly what He desires for all of us to do. To proclaim His great name wherever we are, with whatever we're doing. He places us where we're at so that we may bring Him praise. That we may boast of His goodness and handiwork in our lives.

With NASA's space shuttle program formally ending last year, I thank God for the ability He gave our country to fly men and women into the Heavens and gaze upon the beauty of His creation. And proclaim His great name for the whole world to hear.

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 (our space shuttle watching "crew"-us and our favorite Panter family)