Twenty-five years ago right this second, STS-1 launched, the first mission of the Space Transportation System [STS, or Space Shuttle]. It was America’s first launch into space in six years.

Frankly, I fear that we’ll go that long from the end of STS’s life to the new Crew Launch Vehicle’s maiden voyage. Six years doesn’t seem like a long time, but think of it this way: when the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project ended in July 1975, Gerald Ford was President. When STS-1 went up, the President was Ronald Reagan—Jimmy Carter’s administration was the first and only to not have a manned spaceflight launch. At this rate, Bush’s successor will see the last STS flight, and we might skip another Presidency before we get this thing off the ground.

We can’t have that, folks. Six years ago, 9/11 hadn’t happened, we were just coming out of the dot-bomb bubble, and it looked reasonable to expect that Al Gore might be President. Seems forever ago, doesn’t it?

Ad astra per aspera.