Discovery just got a "go"

Discovery just got a "go" for deorbit burn and had a good burn. STS-121 is coming home! Landing is at Kennedy Space Center beneath cloudy skies at 8:14 Central time. If you're near a TV, check out the NASA channel or CNN. :)

In other interesting space news, here's an article that confirms that JSC really could have been built anywhere. Why Houston? Because a Houston congressman was head of the Appropriations Panel at the time. Sigh. Too bad he wasn't from California. Or Seattle. Or somewhere with no mosquitos.

That got me thinking, and I spent a few minutes browsing one of the early chapters in the book "Suddenly Tomorrow Came." It's available online and is a history of the Johnson Space Center. My favorite bit from the chapter about how we ended up in Houston:

"Powers launched a campaign at Langley, in cooperation with the Houston Chamber of Commerce, to make the move not only palatable but attractive. He posted signs all over Langley saying that 'Houston is a good place to live!' His office presented slide shows and provided brochures. Ben Gillespie came from Houston to show a movie on the City of Houston and the new site. Powers held open meetings in the Langley cafeteria, and 'shot down' the rumors that Houston had a hurricane every year and that hundreds of snakes crawled around the streets."

Snakes! In the streets! Eeeeeee!