Thousands of people in the Mid-Atlantic saw something they had never seen before today.

A rocket going into orbit.

Orbital Sciences launched their Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility at 5 PM. NASA’s small visitor center hosted hundreds of people with a good view and mission audio. Thousands of folks from Washington to Baltimore, and along the beaches of Assateague Island saw the launch.

It’s events like this that make dreamers out of the young kids, who were brought by their parents from all over to witness it. Some kid today will be inspired to do something in science that changes the world we live in.

NASA Does an amazing job of sharing their mission with the public, and most importantly the astronauts and engineers of tomorrow ,who will take us even farther into the final frontier. Yes, it was a great day for the company launching the rocket that will carry supplies to the ISS soon, but it’s importance was far more than that. It will be the inspiration for some student to look differently at maths and physics.  We need that badly in an America where some members of congress  proudly proclaim that what we know about the Earth and the Universe are lies.

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson in his fantastic book Space Chronicles: Facing The Ultimate Frontier noticed something you should know: He tweeted about as well:

 I shared the launch today with my son who is autistic; It was my 14th launch, and his first. We both loved it. He took the picture above too!