Over 2 years after the Columbia tragedy on February 1, 2003, the US Space Shuttle is set to return to space this week, with a busy mission that hopes to make up for lost time. If everything goes well, Space Shuttle Discovery and its seven-person crew will take off Wednesday, July 13, at 3:51pm EST and rendezvous with the International Space Station. Discovery is bringing many long-awaited supplies to the station, and its passengers will perform several space walks and external examinations of the shuttle to make sure no damage occurred during take-off. It's been a whopping 40 years since the space race galvanized the nation, but I still get all goose-bumpy just thinking about this stuff. I don't understand why we don't spend more time and resources exploring space
