Day Two
The best part of the day was the pre- launch events. It was fun meeting the astronauts and listening to their stories and future plans of going up into space. They were nice and shared a lot of cool stories and technical information with us. (For instance did you know that on the shuttles, the external tanks are held to the orbiter by 3 little bolts? Phew!) They were very inspiring and are great role models. Kathryn Sullivan was especially nice and she gave me her autograph.

We toured some of the facilities at Kennedy Space Center. In the Orbiter Processing Facility, Mark Sestile, who works for NASA, showed us around for awhile. He has the coolest job. He works with the actual shuttles. After they land, he is in charge of getting them ready to take off again. Anyway, he told us some interesting stories about the shuttles. Did you know the tires on the shuttle are Michelin? - they're like giant car tires! But a car tire's thickness is usually 3 or 4 ply while a shuttle tire's thickness is more like 32 ply! They don't puncture easily, that's for sure! And instead of air, shuttle tires are filled with nitrogen because it has less moisture.

Did you know that every single inch of the shuttles is covered in ceramic tile? Space shuttles, which are also known as orbiters, are made of aluminum because it's super light and its melting point is 720 degrees. When an orbiter re-enters the earth's atmosphere, it can get up to 3000 degrees! That's hard to imagine but it's true. So to stop the orbiter from melting, the ceramic tiles absorb the extra heat, and keep the temperature of the orbiter below 200 degrees. It usually takes about 25, 000 tiles to cover an orbiter. And they are very light so that they don't weigh the orbiter down. Pretty cool, I think.

After dinner we listened to a panel discussion with Sally Ride (1st woman in space), Marta Bohn-Meyer (1st woman to fly a SR-71), Kathryn Sullivan (1st American woman to walk in space), Donna Shirley (1st woman leading Mars Exploration Program), Yvonne Cagle (astronaut), Jennifer Harris (flight director of the Mars Pathfinder), and Ellen Ochoa (1st Hispanic woman in space).

Next we went to the O&C (Operations and Checkout) building to watch the crew walk out, on their way to the shuttle. Everyone was gathered around. Luckily, I had a red press badge, so I was able to get through the crowds to where the press people were. They have the good seats, so I got pretty close to the line. We knew they were coming when someone in the crowd screamed, "Yeah! Eileen, you rule!" After a pause, everyone started cheering, and then all five astronauts walked out. Two of them were women. I got a great shot of them walking by. They were all waving and smiling, and seemed nice. When they got inside the van that would take them to the shuttle, one of the astronauts stuck his hand out the window and started waving furiously. It was pretty funny. They had to close the door on him!

After we heard a few more people speak, and had a Q & A session with the astronauts. They are so inspiring! I asked if you have to be a certain age to apply to the space program. We're in luck -- there's not. But you do need a degree in math, engineering or science. You can pick up an application at the NASA web site. Afterwards we all went to the launch pad. There were lots of people. There was one fenced off area for the press which of course had the best view. But even with my badge, I couldn't get in. It was kind of disappointing. Fabio was there, and it was pretty weird to see him in person. After an hour or two, they started counting down, and then they stopped, due to a faulty sensor, which was detecting too much hydrogen. Disappointment hung heavily in the air. They made an announcement that the launch was canceled, but that they would try again tomorrow.

Day Three
We went back to the launch site. However, this time there weren't any activities beforehand. So we got to the launch site around 11 O'clock. As we were driving there, I saw lightening. When we got there, we found a whole bleacher section fenced off for Hillary Clinton. She came late, and for awhile we thought she wouldn't come at all. But then someone started screaming "Hillary! Hillary!!" She stayed up in the bleachers with Chelsea for awhile, but then three girls counted to three and yelled her name in unison, and she came over to where we were. Everyone was screaming for her attention, so it was hard to get time to talk to her, but finally I got my picture taken with her. All kinds of people were handing their cameras to Hillary's security guards, and begging them to take their picture with Hillary. It was pretty crazy and funny too. Hillary was really graceful within the chaos, but I don't understand how she can handle going through that all the time.

This time we didn't even hear them count seconds. Nine minutes before take-off, they announced that the mission was canceled for the second time because of the storm. Again, it was scheduled for the next day. I began to wonder if I'd ever see it launch.

Day Four
It finally happened! Everything went smoothly this time. We got all the way through the countdown, and the shuttle blasted into space! It was even more fascinating than I had imagined.

It looked like a giant fireball hurling towards the sky. Then it turned into a bright star, and then a little star that kind of looked like Mars. And then it was 200 miles above the earth, all within 10 minutes.

I was thinking how cool it was that the entire state of Florida could see the shuttle shooting into the sky, but none of my friends at home in California would have any idea of what it looked like. I knew I was going to have a great story to tell when I got home.

I feel really lucky to have been invited to witness the shuttle launch. It was one of the most exciting things I've ever done. It also makes me want to try even harder to help other girls get interested in technology.

That's why I was invited in the first place. I helped my mom start her company, Girl Tech, and I've come up with a lot of ideas for toys girls would like that use technology. I want to keep inventing things and learning more about technology. And I want to keep spreading the word that science and technology are not just for boys!