Writing this blog after the second day of training at NASA Johnson Space Center . If this sounds like I “m getting ready to board the next shuttle ndash; my apologies. I was teaching a class on programming with Adobe Flex. Still, it was a very interesting business trip for me.

What would you do if you were to visit NASA for the first time? I decided to arrive one day earlier and spend a day visiting the Space Center as a tourist. This was a smart decision. To say that I was impressed by what I “ve seen would be a huge understatement. I “m speechless! Seriously.

I “m not going to repeat stuff that you can read in brochures, but let me tell you ndash; if you are thinking where to take your kid during the Spring break ndash; come here for a day.

From the very beginning the tour guide announced ndash; “This is not an amusement park ndash; this is the real thing rdquo;. And it was. Mission control room hellip;astronauts training facilities hellip;The second rocket Saturn V that stayed on Earth while another one took Neil Armstrong to the Moon back in 1969 hellip;a huge-screen movie about the international space station hellip;

I “m not an easy person to impress. I visited Taj Mahal ndash; OK, it “s nice. I “ve been to Brazil and have seen Christ the Redeemer ndash; yeah it “s cool. But after learning about the international space station and all these missions sending people there, I “m wondering why the heck it “s not one of the seven world wonders? There is nothing even close to a complexity of this thingy.

Speaking of Armstrong hellip; I “m not sure if everyone knows what were the first words of Neil Armstrong when he made his first step on the Moon. Some pathetic sources state that he said “That ‘s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. ” But I “ve heard (from several sources) that he actually said “Good luck Mr. Gorsky! rdquo;, and here “s why .

The next shuttle (STS-119) will be launched on Feb 12, which is the most important event here. I “m taking my hat off to NASA scientists and to all people who ‘ve BEEN THERE and to those who made it possible.

Here I am at the training center.