Ten years ago today — February 7, 2001 — the Space Shuttle Atlantis launched from Kennedy Space Center, on its way to the International Space Station.
(Destiny module being installed on the International Space Station. NASA image.)
STS-98 astronauts Kenneth D. Cockrell, Mark L. Polansky, Robert L. Curbeam, Thomas D. Jones, and Marsha S. Ivins transported the U.S. laboratory module “Destiny” and installed it on the ISS.
And, speaking of destiny, 20 years ago today the Salyut-7 space station was de-orbited after nearly nine years of operations. The main character in my story, “The Rocket Seamstress,”* bemoaned its loss:
Where are Salyut and Mir, Mother Russia’s glorious outposts? Rusting homes to fish instead of men.
May we one day have outposts in space that are not in any danger of falling from the sky.
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*The story appeared in Zahir in 2007, and is available now on Anthology Builder.
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