I thought the news out of New Mexico the other day was stunning, international news, the biggest thing since the day they dropped the bomb on New Mexico. And yet you may not know what I mean right away, unless you read the title.
That's right - a private space rocket was launched, with people on it, and it went into space, and it came back, and they made it back ok. I find all this a little hard to believe. But apparently it launched from the site near Las Cruces. So now we have private expeditions into space from our own back yard, allegedly.
I was out in my yard with my weak hearing and new powerhouse hearing aids, and an incredible roar came and stayed in the air for a few minutes. I was a little surprised because I saw nothing, but it was so incredibly loud, I figured it had to be up there somewhere. Usually when a sound is that loud you expect the plane to be right overhead, but this time, there was nothing I could see. But based on that experience, I believe that it happened.
Now another thing happened that might actually be a coincidence. A fire started in the night or early morning, over in the scrubby mountains between Alamogordo and here. In Alamo, it looked dramatic, but then Alamo always looks dramatic, with those huge dry mountains right up against it. Well anyway, this area where the fire started is way back there, out West side road where almost no one ever goes without four-wheel drive, an extra tire pump and gasoline, you get the drill. Who could have been out there?
My wife says, lightning did it, obviously. I say, maybe the space rocket did it. How could you launch a space rocket and not make a few sparks?
OK so here are my questions. First I believe it happened because I heard it. But was it really manned, and if so, where are the people? Second, can they assure us that it will not drop sparks, as some years a single fire like that one could wipe us all out; this whole season, January to July, we have an average of about a half inch per six months, and a single spark, poof, we could be gone. What if that space rocket did start that fire? Third, is that incredible noise just something we and the other creatures will just have to get used to after these launches become regular things?
Just wondering.
