Atlantis Launched

I remember as a child watching Walter Cronkite explain with diagrams and models the Apollo missions and what was happening in space.
I usually lasted about five minutes before I was off to something else very important - like read Nancy Drew.

Today we watched the Atlantis launch online, how compelling to watch now (older/wiser) as opposed to the Apollo missions of the late 60's and early 70's.

These pictures were taken from as close as you can get to the launch site last December. Dave and I were privileged to be staying near Cape Canaveral, FL. Okay, so the one picture is from the NASA site.