The vast expanse of interstellar space

God of all power, Ruler of the Universe
you are worthy of glory and praise.
Glory to you for ever and ever.
At your command all things came to be:
the vast expanse of interstellar space,
galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses,
and this fragile earth, our island home.
By your will they were created and have their being.

(From one of the liturgies in the Anglican Book of Alternative Services)

I was reading that this is referred to as the Star Trek Eucharistic Prayer. One parish was known to use it when a space shuttle was up.

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The headline at CNN was: the astronauts are getting ready for their flight. Actually this will be the 6th attempt at launching the shuttle. The weather has not been cooperating - thunderstorms in Florida.

There will be a Canadian astronaut on board. When the shuttle finally gets to the International Space Station - there will be a first - 2 Canadian astronauts together there.

Now there is a web site where you can check your city’s location for viewing the space station.
　

Airplanes, etc.

This week Air Force One was parked at the Ottawa airport. President Obama came to visit Ottawa for a few hours.

Some years ago one of the space shuttles flew over Ottawa on top of an airplane. This was quite interesting and everyone was looking up to see it.

My mom used to watch quite faithfully the launches from Cape Canaveral. I started to think about her mom and the years that she lived through. She was born in 1885 - the horse and buggy era. She was still alive in 1969 when men walked on the moon.

Coming into the Toronto airport one time we were told to look out the window to see one of the Concorde aircraft sitting on the tarmac. They had quite a distinctive pointed nose.

In England I went to visit Windsor Castle. It is in the flight path close to Heathrow Airport. It was quite noisy at times. A tourist was heard to remark - why did they build the castle so close to the airport? Dear me…