Final flight of the Space Shuttle 'Discovery'

For the first time I actually saw the Space Shuttle (Discovery) this evening. As the International Space Station flew over Brighton just after dusk you could clearly see the shuttle following behind it. It was wonderful to watch them both traverse Orion against the southern sky - despite the light pollution you could see them very clearly. There is a certain sense of irony here - this is Discovery's last ever flight and this is its last day in space. I do hope they are all enjoying themselves in orbit - I wish I was there too.

Lichtenberg would, perhaps, have been surprised, although unlike some of his contemporaries he didn't discount the possibilities of human flight:

'Who would wish to say how far the perfectability of man can go? From the child who reels and staggers on his nurse's hand to Terzi [a famous tightrope walker that Lichetnberg has seen at Sadler's Wells theatre in London], who would wish to assert that men will never learn to fly?' Waste Book E §78, 1775-1776.