Wow! Beautiful History!

My Dad was a "space junkie."  We watched every launch by NASA on television, and he awakened me to see the first man walk on the moon broadcast live.  When rockets started taking off from Cape Canaveral (Cape Kennedy), we could view them from the end of the street.  While I lived in Florida, I would watch lift-offs on the television, then run outside to see them in the sky....
   Today, I watched Elon Musk's SpaceX send the Falcon Heavy rockets skyward.  It was something that had never been done before - three connected rockets with a combined force of 27 engines shot up from the rocket pad in Florida.  The two side rockets detached perfectly, on time, and the main rocket's first stage booster disengaged right on schedule.  The sights were fabulous!   I even was able to see the two booster rockets pass over the cameras on the ground in Florida, on their way back to Earth for recovery and re-use....   Amazing!
   Looking back in history, what have I seen take place in my own lifetime?
1.  Desegregation in the southern United States
2.  The first man in space
3.  The Civil Rights Movement and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
4.  The first moon orbit
5.  The first walk on the moon
6.  The space shuttles
7.  The International Space Station
8.  The first African-American President of the United States
9.   The first successful launch of a heavy-lift rocket by a private company

  It's stupid that 45 (the current person in the White House) is hoping for a government shut down over immigration laws; that he has opened National Parks and National Monuments to open rape of the Earth; that he is thinking of shutting down NASA; that he is hoping to cease funding the International Space Station; that he has encouraged his appointees to openly "kill" laws that were for the protection of people and the environment...   That man is a sacrilege in and of himself.

NASA Wallops Island Rocket Explodes

The Antares rocket with the Cygnus cargo spacecraft was due to be launched last night - but 10 minutes before the launch time, a sailboat intruded into the restricted waters around Wallops Island, Virginia.  Tonight, the launch countdown went off without a hitch, but 6 seconds after liftoff, the rocket exploded.  The rocket was carrying 5,000 pounds of supplies and laboratory equipment to a rendezvous with the International Space Station and the six astronauts aboard it.  NASA will hold a press conference tonight on NASA Television to discuss the "mishap."
   Since the Wallops Flight Facility has been sending rockets into space, folks have gathered along the Eastern Shore and on Chincoteague Island to view the launches.  This was the first night-time launch of the Antares, and quite a few people had traveled to the shore and islands to one.  Reports are that no one was harmed by the explosion, but there are many reports of blown out windows in cas and trucks, as well as a few windows in near-by houses.  There was a report that a search was underway in the Chicken City Road area of Chincoteague due to reports of large debris in the area.  People who were watching the launch at the Curtis Merritt Memorial Harbor on the south end of Chincoteague Island reported feeling "fine particles" hitting their faces and arms after the explosion.
   Chincoteague Emergency Services states that there is no known damage on the island.
  I'm just happy that no lives were lost and dwellings were undamaged....

Just before ignition...

Six seconds after ignition

Ten seconds after

Fifteen seconds past...