When I was younger, I was fortunate enough to attend Space Camp in  Huntsville, AL. It was an amazing experience where I ate pizza  practically everyday, was made commander of the Atlantis for a mission,  and saw the Enterprise and a Saturn-V rocked on display. I had always  wanted to be an astronaut growing up. While life has changed my path for  various reasons, the dream of going to space has been one that never  quite fully died out.

While I had always planned on going to the massive parade in Los  Angeles to see the Endeavour make its way to its new home, I was not  planning on going to see the flyover. However, I ended up waking up  early this morning and as a spur-of-the-moment idea, ended up at the  Griffith Park Observatory a few hours before the flyover. The crowd was  already quite large and would number in the hundreds, if not thousands,  by the time the flight took place. There were several children with  shuttle toys, and even one woman with an inflatable Endeavour.

As the flyover took place, its hard to describe the emotions coming  to a once-upon-a-time space nerd. The shuttle program was by no means  controversy free. After reaching the moon, NASA scaled back to low-orbit  missions with the new shuttles. For some, the program seemed a great  step back after a space race that had ignited a great deal of innovation  and discovery. Then, of course, there were the tragic accidents of the  Challenger and Columbia that further questioned the program’s  usefulness.

However, there were a great many positive things the program did, as  well. The Endeavour itself flew 25 high-profile missions, many of which  helped build the incredible ISS. The space program’s innovations may not  be as obvious as velcro or pudding cups were after the original Apollo  missions, but we still use a great deal everyday that is in large part  thanks to the orbiters and ISS crews.

Seeing the final flyover, and more importantly the great crowds and  passion for its arrival, I could not help but think America is finding a  reignited passion for NASA and plans to journey into the unknown. The  “farewell tour,” along with the recent Curiosity Mars rover landing,  have garnered a great deal of interest and sparked a new light on a  division that some see as underappreciated and underfunded. There is  still a great deal of wonder towards space, and the Endeavour helped us  get a little bit closer to that. Seeing it person, you were reminded  that this was a vehicle that was the pinnacle of engineering in its day.  It has seen Earth from a vantage point that few will ever get to see in  this day and age. Looking closely, you could even see the burn marks  still left on its re-entry shield, left from its 25 free-falls back  home.

The future of NASA and space flight seems as unknown as the universe  it is trying to reach. But, for one day at least, the had the hopes and  visions of an entire city behind it.