Craig with Atlantis at Launch Pad 39-A, the day before STS-132 (2010)

Since I am lucky to be one of 150 unofficial ambassadors selected to participate in a NASA tweetup during the final Space Shuttle launch later this week, I thought I would provide a little background on why I love all things space.

The Early Years

I can’t pinpoint exactly when I became interested in space, but the first memory I have of something space-related occurred in 1985, when I was six or seven years old and lived just outside of New York City.  My father was overseeing the opening of a new site for his employer in Roanoke, Va., a wonderful city to which we would eventually move and in which I would live for 18 years.  For several months before we moved, my father commuted to Roanoke during the week, and returned to New York each weekend.  To remind my sister and me that he was thinking of us during his travels, my father always came back each week with a toy or souvenir that he bought for us.  (I’m not sure if my mother got a gift every week, but one of the weeks he brought her back a diamond, so I think it averaged out.) Continue reading »