posted 03-11-2020 10:20 PM
   
I thought I'd share this little story with you guys. I'm from Austria and was born there in 1984. Back in 1990 my parents took my brother and me on a two week trip to Florida. Unfortunately I can't remember a lot of this trip. Thanks to my dad, I have some video footage. And lately I also found photographs of the trip. One thing I can remember was that we were about to witness the launch of a space shuttle, but it was cancelled. I don't know why it took me so long to figure out which flight it was that I missed. So now 30 years later I find out it was STS-31, the very flight that took the Hubble Space Telescope into space. So back in the days we were heading south and our bus would stop at a near highway so we could watch the launch of a space shuttle. But no. Cancelled. Let's move on. So after Disneyland and other stuff we went back on April 14th to visit the Kennedy Space Center. This is my dad and me in front of the VAB.  And here I am with my mother with STS-31 in the rear.  While being at KSC, on the video footage my dad says "this is like a model railway to me." My dad passed away in 2013. So here I am sitting, 30 years after the trip. Three years ago a little spark in my brain reignited, and brought back my interest in spaceflight. I have since met Charlie Duke and Fred Haise in person. I wish I had witnessed the STS-31 launch into space back then. This would certainly have left an impression. And it wouldn't have took me so long to take action to meet the heroes of spaceflight. Since then I have never been to the US again. But I hope I can go back there. But now, thinking about, that I was almost witnessed the Hubble Space Telescope launch into space, sometimes puts a little smile to my face. | 
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