Old habits die hard..Discovery successful on third try!!

One minute before midnight Friday August 29, 2009, NASA launched Space Shuttle Discovery from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The storied craft is destined for the International Space Station (ISS) with supplies and equipment. Space Shuttle Mission STS-128, a rare nighttime launch and another success for NASA will see the shuttle and crew celebrate the 25th anniversary of the vessel's maiden voyage.



Discovery's first mission in 1984 had to be delayed three times with mechanical issues. But, the mission that would pole vault the United States into the next generation in technology would not be denied. Thanks to the success of that first mission we have satellite digital cable, cellphones and of course the internet.

Like the inagural mission, this year's Discovery flight had been delayed twice for weather and a small malfunction of a fuel valve sensor. But, unlike the first mission which didn't get off the ground until the fourth attempt, the third time was the charm for the 2009 Discovery.

I was a precocious seven year old with only faint memories of the historical events of the late-80s. We had recently moved from the West Dallas projects to the house that would spur most of my development from a boy into a young man. I remember watching the space shuttle launch on TV in school on VHS and thinking that anything was possible. Because at that time I also remember having hope that a black man could become president of the United States for the first time in history. That man was Jesse Jackson.

Last year engulfed with empassioned race of Barack Obama the second black man to seriously seek the presidency, I located with the aid of our greatest technology, the internet, a video of my then hero Jesse Jackson speaking to a capacity congregation of the Tedley Baptist church in Philadephia, PA. At that time his cry was for a choice and a chance.



Ultimately, his cries fell on deaf ears as the country would later re-elect Ronald Reagan to the office of president for a second term. My hopes for change were dashed but not diminished.

Fast forward 25 years.

On a wintery November night, Jesse and countless others cried a new brand of tears as he along with the world watched in prideful astonishment as Barack H. Obama gave his victory speech in Chicago forging his transcendent place in modern American history.

But Obama's history could not have been possible without the pioneering efforts of Jesse Jackson in the mid-80s. Jesse's call to action and ill-fated campaign for the White House galvanized grass-roots efforts throughout black communities across the country as the generation of blacks that had survived the sixties and their offspring were beginning to find their voice and they would not silenced.

Now in the dawn of the first African-American presidency, seeing the space shuttle launch successfully brings back so many of my childhood memories and renews my hope that our work is not done and we as a people will one day overcome!