Watching STS-134 still brings tears to my eyes.

See here and here, with the links provided by our buddy Randy Morgan (that'd be our friend who is a real rocket scientist).

Watching the end of the shuttle program makes me grateful for all of the hard work and sacrifice that the good folks at NASA have provided, decade after decade.  I think about the last few lines in the movie Apollo 13,* spoken by Tom Hanks, who played Capt. Lovell:

Gene Kranz retired as Director of Flight Operations just not long ago.  And many other members of Mission Control have gone on to other things, but some are still there.  And as for me, the seven extraordinary days of Apollo 13 ... were my last in space.  I watched other men walk on the moon and return safely ... all from the confines of Mission Control and our house in Houston.  I sometimes catch myself looking up at the moon ... remembering the changes of fortune in our long voyage thinking of the thousands of people who worked to bring the three of us home.  I look up at the moon and wonder, when will we be going back?  And who will that be?

With NASA's budget in jeopardy, I wonder where that great unifying cry for scientists will come from, and whether it will be loud enough for the next generation to hear it.

Thank you, NASA, for all you've done for us--and all that you continue to do.

* Ron Howard directed Apollo 13, based on the book Lost Moon (written by Capt. Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger), and with a script written by Bill Broyles and Al Reinert.