The ISS, Shuttle & a Father/Son special moment last night!

I wanted to share something with you and in a round about way, let the ATS community know that it played a special part in a moment I shared with my son last night. Odd, yes, but for me-it meant everything. Bare with me.

As I became more and more invovled with ATS and my research/quest for the truth about UFO's/Aliens my two boys would often look at me like I was nuts... like when I told them about Cattle multilations.... capping that off with Human multiliations. They never looked at me the same again..... lol Anyway, they have seen many things that I have found/learned about on ATS over the years.

I had their interest captured so much at one point, we all went and saw the IMAX presentation of the Hubble Telescope and the Shuttle Repair Mission-Thread about that here (I just saw the Hubble Telescope IMAX 3D Movie: worth every penny (2 ways); www.abovetopsecret.com...) The whole experience had a profound affect on me but only somewhat to the kids. They continued to watch ISS/UFO videos with me when they came on ATS, and other things.

Like the other night I took them to the movies. The first movie trailer that came up was this one: (trust me-watch it----

We all sat there, watching and then looking at each other as the trailer played on the screen. I could see excitment in the wifes eyes as she grabbed my hand.... the kids were nodding their heads like YEA!!!!
Well, until the Transformers info came up.... ruined it for us. But hey, what a great movie playout of what most of us think maybe up there etc (less the Transformers)

Why? cause we want to believe that there is more out there.... the movie we went to see was marginal.... but we all talked about MOST of the movie trailer and the possibilities that maybe out there... Ahh I had their interest again.

Well, yesterday, I saw a notice that the Space Station and the Shuttle would be on one of their last orbits last night, possibly visable around 7:24 E.S.T.-coming from the N. West towards the S. East (Illinois to Wash D.C path). Anyway, last night the wife with shopping with the mother-in-law and I was left alone. Just as I was getting in the Jeep to head to my favorite spot, the older boy called and said he was near by and would he mind he he stopped by?

He came up to my jeep, I told him to get in and then I sped off. At 7:20, I stop that the spot-he doesn't know about it, and get out--he follows... I chat with him for a few minutes as I have him standing with his back to the coming path.

Around 7:24, Here they came just a wizzing. I told him to look up and he was floored as he watched and I told him what was going on. Listening to him yabber about it all and chuckling all the time saying how cool it was and Thanking me for showing him. The next hour I listen to him tell different family members what occured and how much it meant to him.

Of course, meaning much more to me. I will never forget that moment and I hope you can all have something similar with your kid(s) and/or love ones. Keep the faith. And, I am thankful for ATS and what I have learned and discovered here. And, I have even tried to do my part with my threads and post. Take care.

This is the best representation I could find to show what we saw last night (angle and moon included!)

It's always awesome to hear of good bonding moments in peoples lives with their kids. Seems to happen less and less these days with all the hectic running around anymore and modern conveniences to distract. Congrats man.

reply to post by jaynkeel



Thank you.

What bums me out though is that my kids will never get to space either. Heck, they didn't even get an introduction into the whole Space program and exploration. It is a lost subject in schools anymore.

The sad thing is that it was probably just me and him last night, in the area, that paused and looked up. To witness mans' greatness and the end of an era of the Space Program.

I wish the whole mountain side would have been packed to see what we saw.

I know what you mean, up here though we rarely get clear skies this time of year so we miss out on pretty much everything good. Or else I would have been out there myself staring up just like you. I guess I am lucky as my kids are all pretty young and just as much in awe as I am when it comes to looking up. Sometimes I wonder what the neighbors think when they see me standing outside in the freezing cold just staring up, I could only imagine what goes through their heads!!!

reply to post by jaynkeel


Dude, you and I think the exact same thing.

I just moved... my old neighbor did that. He actually came outside one night, over to my place and asked me and the wife what we were doing. (we were getting ready to watch the ISS fly-by about 4 years ago-right past the tail of the big dipper!). We were laying on the seats of the picnic table, laughing our butts off ect.

I am up and about all night long some times. It is nothing for me to be out for an hour or two looking up for Movers (the bight moving things/sats etc).

Wow, strange that I came across this thread. I had a very similar experience with my two sons (3 & 8) on Monday night. We typically sit out on our deck in the hot tub on clear winter nights and watch the stars and several times we have 'accidentally' seen the ISS flying by in the past few weeks. I had not considered that we might also see the shuttle but sure enough, on Monday night we watched both the shuttle and the ISS slowly streak across the western sky. It was an amazing moment for all of us and helped fuel my older son's interest in astronomy and science.

Thanks for sharing!

reply to post by buskey


No, thank you for sharing. I am glad to know I wasn't the only one experiencing such a moment/history.

My son just left here. He was telling the wife all about it etc.

ALL good is all I can say.

Got his attention-in many ways.