I'm delighted to report Discovery eventually left the pad after last week's disappointing delay, impressing an awestruck press and public with a gorgeous nighttime launch. No troubles with the thermal protection system have risen to threaten re-entry, and docking at the International Space Station went flawlessly. Constructing the final section of ISS's solar power supply proceeds, as the S6 truss has successfully been unberthed from Discovery's payload bay in preparation for final installation and deployment.
The truss segment is large in both size and mass, requiring a deep concentration of force and effort. Robotic and human assembly tasks will take place at the limits of performance. Watching the mechanical hand-off between the orbiter's robot arm and that of the station is a study in the efficiency of motion and the efficiency of thought behind it. The almost alien frugality of coordination between the shuttle's arm, the station's arm and mobile transporter, highly commends those teams responsible.
Even under all this pressure the mission of STS-119 continues with a serious pace that often accompanies great planning (and anticipation of potential faults). Not only does chance favor the prepared mind, such preparation is priceless in absence of any forgiveness for error. The complexity of "rocket science" is a marvel to behold by those with a respectable appreciation for the amount of work involved. That it can be made to look easy is astounding!
TOS has several times presented a commentary on the illogic of waste. Time, resources, potential, all can be wasted, as can opportunity. Even people can be considered disposable once truth itself becomes something that can be wasted. But waste is not only illogical, it's also an undesirable luxury. When you don't have much to waste, you don't! (The virtue of parsimony may be affirmed by age even if the value of it was accepted earlier.) That the planet now seems more in the hands of those less likely to waste it - not to mention, focused on more constructive means - is comforting.
The application of education and experience has allowed humankind to at last cast wings outside our fragile atmosphere, basking in unimpeded brilliance to power our fledgling efforts to find life beyond this precious home. But it won't ever be easy, nor should we expect it to be. Working out the engineering problems in space exploration is not a luxury, as it can't remotely be considered as wasteful. Motivation can take care of any apathy bred from abundance, but sadly there isn't an abundance of motive lying around.