“Thou know’st ‘tis common – all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.”
(Hamlet, act 1.2)

Comments. Appropriate lines to accompany the end of the Space Shuttle Era, with the spectacular return of the Shuttle Endeavour to Los Angeles – while the B-747 that carried it made passes on some classic American icons or symbols, the Golden Gate and Hollywood.
Endeavour made its first flight in 1992, six years after the Challenger disaster. It flew on the next-to-last shuttle mission in May and June 2011. During its missions, Endeavour logged 299 days in space and circled Earth 4,671 times. Its total off-the-planet mileage: 122.8 million miles (about 1.5 the distance between the earth and the sun). Endeavour was named after the first ship Continue reading →