Ulysses

Ulysses flew over the north pole of Sol on Monday, which it has been orbiting for more than a year. It's been more than two decades since my father explained what was so cool about the perpendicular orbit of the satellite, which I think was his first to head as project manager at the lab.

Ulysses launched four years late. It was supposed to be sent on its way during the 11th mission of OV-099, aka Challenger, which as'ploded during the launch of Mission 10 in 1986. At the time, my father said it was a good thing it didn't wait one more mission to blow, because Ulysses would have rained radiological debris back down to Earth.

Which made one thing finally clear: That's why they launch from Florida.