As a boy, watching the NASA rocket launches was a really big deal. There was talk of going to the moon! Wow! To a young child back in the ol’ days, that was mind-boggling. It was such a big deal that when Alan Shephard and John Glenn were blasted into space the teachers brought televisions to school just so we could watch it.

I vividly remember the ominous tone of the narrator counting down the seconds to blast-off: “T-minus 3, 2, 1, we have lift-off!” That was exciting! It still gives me goosebumps just remembering.

Right now, we are T-minus 17:32:11 for blast-off to Ubaúna. Last minute preparations and checks are being made. All the astronauts team members are frantically finishing their packing and getting ready to get buckled in.

The antecipation is palpable!