What a day to be an avgeek (Aviation Geek). Two big things happened today that both happened before I even got to work.

First thing to happen was the final launch of the Shuttle Discovery. Shuttle Discovery took off this morning (our time anyway) for its final flight into Space. Off to the ISS it goes to deliver its last payload of random stuff to help the station but I tell you what, it is an impressive site. STS 133 headed into the bright blue sky trailing a massive fireball behind it. Seeing that launch live on CNN this morning just made me want to see one in real life, but unfortunately that just won’t happen as I am pretty sure there are not enough shuttle launches left.

What I have done though is added to the bucket list. I wanna see a Space Launch of some kind. Be it rocket or the new replacement to the shuttle, I wanna see that plume of flame launch into the sky, see the smoke trail behind it as it reaches for the heavens. It would be a site I wanna see, just once in my life in real life.

The 2nd big thing today was the US Air Force finally deciding on a tanker to replace their ageing fleet of KC-135’s. These tankers have been flying since the 50s. I mean seriously there are planes their with more hours than some United Flight Attendants (inside Avgeek joke), but the journey to this day has been an epic feat of stupidity. Backwards and forwards, claims of corruption and mishandling. Stupid moves made by not only the companies involved but also the US Government. I mean seriously who takes a freaking decade to make a decision on an aircraft that is essentially an airliner (767/A330 in this case) with a hose out the back.

So Boeing won the contract (first time around it was EADS, then it got contested) with their Bid of a Tanker based on a 767. Only time will tell how long and if this contract ever goes ahead. Personally i give it a week before the problems start all over again and the claims of wrong doings start to fly left right and centre. If they finally do start to build these things, it will be fantastic to see something new flying around and the chances of seeing them in Brisbane are really good as we often get them escorting over here for exercises or stopping off on their way around the world. Cross my fingers we get to see one in the next decade or so.