My mind may have been soaking up information about the latest software drop being reviewed, but my heart was miles away, experiencing that eerily silent moment before launch and then tracing the path of Discovery as she launched for the final time.
She is older and wiser, more traveled, more experienced, more revered than I ever will be. She has been a constant friend, an inspiration during those all-nighters in college, an engineering marvel, a machine with near-human qualities to capture the excitement of a nation. She is a workhorse, she is amazing, she is beautiful.
And in these moments of her final mission, her last act before becoming one of America's proudest artifacts, I want to thank her. Her and her kin are truly what inspired me to want to be an astronaut, to work hard in school, to become an Aerospace Engineer, to teach kids about space, to support Teachers in Space, to move across the country, to live in the shadow of her big brother, to dedicate my life to the industry that shaped it.
Thank you Discovery, and Godspeed.