Joanne McCully wins a chance to watch the historic launch virtually by Taylor Sharpe Posted Friday, June 5, 2020 @ 10:47 AM Orlando, FL (June 5, 2020) – On May 30, 2020 millions of people globally witnessed the historic launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Not only was it the first time in nearly a decade that astronauts flew into space from United States soil, it was also the first time in history that a commercial aerospace company carried humans into orbit (Wattles, 2020). One of UCF’s and Student Development and Enrollment Service’s longest serving employees, Joanne McCully, had a front row seat for the launch, sort of. McCully, who has been the Assistant to the Executive Director of the Recreation and Wellness Center for 32 years, was one of 22 people who won a contest with WKMG-TV (Local 6) to attend a virtual watch party for the launch. McCully, who has very personal ties to American spaceflight, won an invite to the watch party when she submitted a short essay on why the launch was important to her. Contestants had to also submit a photograph, “I sent a picture of my son at the Kennedy Space Center standing next to the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module).” Turns out great memories with her son are not the only family ties she has with the historic Apollo missions of the 1960’s. The Long Island native’s father, Joseph Como, was an engineer during the growth of American space flight and she just knew she wanted to be part of this historic launch. Her father’s career heavily influenced her life-long passion for astronomy, “I remember my Dad telling me stories and him not only meeting Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, but actually involved in some training with them,” McCully said. Como worked on the training planes that simulated weightlessness which astronauts affectionately called “Vomit Comets” (Taylor-Redd, 2017). He also helped produce the optics on the Apollo mission LEMs. Many space enthusiasts recall the LEM helped Apollo 13 astronauts return to Earth safely as featured in Ron Howard’s Academy Award nominated 1995 film. McCully recalls her dad traveling between New York, Florida, California, and Texas a lot in helping the country become a world leader in space 50 years ago, but she said it made for a memorable childhood, “The day of the launch to the moon, I was glued to my TV set and will never forget the adrenaline and excitement in watching the first moon landing and walk,” McCully fondly recalls, “The space program has always been important to me and I watched every launch.” McCully wanted to be involved in witnessing the launch with others who also had personal stories of why the launch was important to them. But as the rocket lit up the sky she sensed there was someone else present too, “I know my dad was watching the launch.” Back