What does Huntsville mean to you?
What do people think of when they picture Huntsville? Of course, the first thing most of us picture is the Saturn V. It’s sort of the crowning jewel of Huntsville, a monument to the achievement of our fathers and grandfathers generation who worked on Humanity’s greatest achievement: Man walking on the moon.
Photo of the Saturn V from inside the Davidson Center. Photo Source Here.
I used to work at the Space and Rocket Center as a janitor. It wasn’t proud work, I was just emptying trash, mopping, vacuuming, even cleaning up vomit and other mess 6 days a week. I got paid $7.25 an hour, bumped up to $7.50 after 10pm to incentivize people to join the much less enjoyable night shift. I needed the money and had classes during the day, so I took the nightshift position, working until 2 or 3 in the morning. Now the good thing about the nightshift is… no one else is there. I’m talking a Night at the Museum scenario. I got to see parts of the Rocket Center that not many folks get to see. We all see the replica Saturn V rocket outside every day, but the real artifact is kept inside, spanning the entire length of the Davidson Center. I’m sure you’ll all agree, it’s impressive to walk in and see such a marvel on display. That wasn’t lost on me while working there.
There was one day I got into work and they handed me a leaf blower. I wasn’t sure what was going on, this was not part of the normal procedure. Well, we marched on over to the Davidson Center and they explained to me that the Saturn V was getting dusty, and tonight we were going to be cleaning it by lifting me up into a cherrypicker and blowing away the dust with an electric leafblower.
7 million pounds of mind-boggling complexity sent hurtling through space, launched into the icy unknown of outer space, reaching thousands of degrees, thousands of miles, to accomplish what men and women have dreamed of, mythologized about for millennia, we accomplished it. Man walking on a surface thought impossible to reach, the crowning achievement of technological innovation that screamed to the world “We conquered the nazis in the war! We have defeated the soviets! And we are now we are victorious over the very fabric of the universe.”
And it’s there hanging in the Davidson Center. and I’m cleaning it with a leaf blower at 1:30 in the morning.
I’ve never felt so patriotic using a garden tool before.
You know, that rocket wasn’t just partially manufactured here. It was largely designed here in Huntsville as well at the Marshall Flight Center. I live in a neighborhood that was specifically developed in the 1960s to accommodate all the engineers moving in to work on the space program. Actually, my neighbor worked on Apollo 11 and gave me this plaque he made to celebrate his accomplishments before he passed away last year.
So when I’m driving down 565 and I see the sun setting behind that rocket, that beautiful golden and orange skyline, all those feelings well up and I’m filled with pride. Pride, and love for my community, by the way. Love for my people, and the hardships and challenges we’ve overcome to get here. Huntsville isn’t perfect and still has many problems that need to be addressed, but we are growing, we are thriving, we are evolving… And we’re still exploring.
Isn’t it awe inspiring?
Now, I don’t think TinyMap is going to be sending a rocket into space anytime soon, but there’s plenty of exploring left to do right here in Huntsville.
Huntsville is still known for our aerospace industry, but alongside the growth we continue to see there, we’ve seen huge growth in technology, sports, culture, arts & entertainment, food, education, and commerce. We’ve outpaced the average US economy for the last several years, and experts say we’ll likely continue that trend for at least the next 5 years. Last year alone, Huntsville brought in 3.7 million visitors to the city. That’s not even counting the people who already live here. Our task at TinyMap is to show those people exactly what makes Huntsville, Alabama unique. My goal is to give every one of those visitors a taste of the love and pride we have for our city and our state.
We’ve created a platform that’s fun, gamified, easy to use, and most importantly, cool.
We’re making improvements to the platform every day, and I sincerely hope you enjoy our webapp, TinyMap.App.
