You ever catch yourself taking a step back to just awe in how much information is available at your fingertips these days on pretty much any topic you could possibly imagine???
I just did a quick Google search to find the total # of shuttle missions for my last post, and soon thereafter I found myself wandering into this incredibly detailed Wikipedia entry going over the specifics of the Challenger disaster back in 1986.
A little more random clicking and I was looking at an article describing the heavily modified Boeing 747s that were used to transport the shuttle from its landing strip back to Cape Canaveral after a successful touchdown.
An even more devoted space geek could review the mission itineraries, crew rosters, and other specifics from every single one of those 135 missions by simply drilling down to whichever flight over the shuttle’s 30 year history they were interested in.
That’s tens of thousands of words just surrounding one particular facet of America’s space program, all easily searchable and readily available at the click of a button.
The old, bulky Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedias that took up three shelves in my bedroom probably had a couple of paragraphs on America’s space program, at best.
We live in some very cool times, indeed, my friends! 