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<blockquote data-quote="kenjib" data-source="post: 666148" data-attributes="member: 530">I was there at Edwards Airforce Base when Columbia landed for the first time in 1981.&nbsp; It was a truly glorious day.&nbsp; Thousands of people came out and parked a vast sea of cars at the edge of a dried out lake bed in the middle of the Mohave desert.&nbsp; People scrambled on top of RV trucks to get a better view.&nbsp; My family was there in our old Toyota Land Cruiser.There were T-Shirts, flags, everyone was filled with excitement to see the final success of the first space shuttle to ever enter space.It was a truly glorious day.&nbsp; This was not just another space shuttle.&nbsp; This was *the* space shuttle.&nbsp; Columbia will always remain in my memory from that time -- glorious and filled with the boundless optimism of a generation filled with hope and faith in the miracles of science and the wonders it could bring us.&nbsp; For me, today's terrible tragedy is an eerie reminder of the different world we live in now.I still see it there today, touching down in the desert, a vast plume of sand and dust rising up into the sky in it's wake -- truly bigger than life.&nbsp; That is my Columbia.&nbsp; That is how I will always remember it.P.S.&nbsp; I still have the &quot;Guest Information&quot; info pamphlet handed out for the landing.&nbsp; It's sitting at my desk now as I write.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="kenjib, post: 666148, member: 530"] I was there at Edwards Airforce Base when Columbia landed for the first time in 1981. It was a truly glorious day. Thousands of people came out and parked a vast sea of cars at the edge of a dried out lake bed in the middle of the Mohave desert. People scrambled on top of RV trucks to get a better view. My family was there in our old Toyota Land Cruiser. There were T-Shirts, flags, everyone was filled with excitement to see the final success of the first space shuttle to ever enter space. It was a truly glorious day. This was not just another space shuttle. This was *the* space shuttle. Columbia will always remain in my memory from that time -- glorious and filled with the boundless optimism of a generation filled with hope and faith in the miracles of science and the wonders it could bring us. For me, today's terrible tragedy is an eerie reminder of the different world we live in now. I still see it there today, touching down in the desert, a vast plume of sand and dust rising up into the sky in it's wake -- truly bigger than life. That is my Columbia. That is how I will always remember it. P.S. I still have the "Guest Information" info pamphlet handed out for the landing. It's sitting at my desk now as I write. [/QUOTE]

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