Last Shuttle Launch

In the late summer of 1971, I went to Hawaii with my uncle (who worked for NASA) my aunt, and my sister. My uncle was working on the recovery mission for Apollo 15, which was set to splash down into the Pacific in August and my sister and I were going to visit our grandparents who lived on Oahu. I remember being unimpressed by the fact that a space orbiter, containing astronauts David Scott, James Irwin and Alfred Worden, had just spent 3 days on the surface of the moon and was making a pinpoint crash into the ocean. It seemed....normal. I was homesick (in Hawaii, for God's sake) and missed my new puppy, Popi. Even though I spent my 10th birthday (in Hawaii, for God's sake) I was sad. Well, I never said I wasn't an idiot. The full impact of being a part of space history was inexorably lost on me. Inexorably, yes...but not irretrievably. A few hours ago, the very last shuttle to be launched into space left the launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. A beautiful sight, one that, strangely, has become commonplace. I watched it with tears in my eyes. With the economy (and ideology) being what it is today, it may be a very long time before we see its like again. We lack the resources but also the clear vision for our long-term survival. Our short-term survival has become the focus. And understandably so. But there's so much more to explore out there. At what point do we look at what we have left and prepare for the day when what we have is no longer enough? Then where do we go? I guess that's up to politicians and purse-string holders. I've seen many, many rocket launches in my life - each one full of the dreams of so many, to "slip the surly bonds of earth...to touch the face of God." I've taken most of them for granted. Forty years later, 10 days from my 50th birthday...today, I  watched the last one I will probably ever see in my life. I wonder about all the unanswered questions and if we've sacrificed our future because of our short-sightedness. I guess I'll never find out. God speed, Atlantis.