Lincoln Steffens is remembered for nothing more than having said, after a visit to Moscow in 1917, "I have seen the future, and it works." But I know how the guy felt. I have been to Cape Canaveral and seen a weather satellite propelled to the very edge of outer space, and it is an awe-inspiring sight.
GOES-L, whose initials stand for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, was launched at 0307 EST on Wednesday, or seven minutes past nine Irish Summer Time.
The weather in the days leading up to the launch, as you might expect in Florida, was perfect; it was rather like that experienced in recent times in Ireland, but warmer.
The Atlantic was a clear turquoise, the palm trees green, and the foam-topped waves of brilliant white, breaking regularly on the yellow sand, stood out clearly against the unbroken blue-on-lighter-blue horizon to the west. There was not a puff of wind, and even the alligators - surprisingly numerous and much in evidence at many roadside ponds - seemed, even if a little listless, quite content. Sometimes, I think to myself, it is not bad to be a meteorologist.
The launch itself was in the middle of the night, but even then it was warm enough to watch it in a short-sleeved shirt. And what a sight it was. First the brilliant flash of ignition illuminated the landscape in what seemed almost like a benign reenactment of Hiroshima. Then, about 10 seconds later - and only then - the shuddering of the ground and the thunderous roar of the rocket's engines reached the ears of the spectators. Meanwhile, the Atlas rocket paused for several seconds on the pad as rockets seem to do, and then rose, slowly and wondrously into the dark, clear, semi-tropical skies above the Cape; it performed a graceful arc as it curved upwards and eastwards over the Atlantic, on its way to deliver its payload to the very edge of space.
As the rocket rose, the tension first was palpable, and then the relief contagious, as it became likely that all systems had performed as planned. Back in the control room 15 minutes later, however, nerves were still on edge until, some 30 minutes after lift-off, there were rousing cheers, applause, and a shaking of hands all around for those responsible, when it could be seen from the monitors that Atlas and GOES had parted company as planned. GOES was now on its own, its small booster motors carrying it on the last stage of its epic journey to its vigil in the equatorial sky.