For those who have seen the Earth from space, and for the hundreds and perhaps thousands more who will, the experience most certainly changes your perspective. The things that we share in our world are far more valuable than those which divide us.
The path of a cosmonaut is not an easy, triumphant march to glory. You have to get to know the meaning not just of joy but also of grief, before being allowed in the spacecraft cabin.
Many say exploration is part of our destiny, but it’s actually our duty to future generations and their quest to ensure the survival of the human species.
The sky is the limit only for those who aren’t afraid to fly! Buy why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may as well ask why climb the highest mountain?
We are all connected; To each other, biologically. To the earth, chemically. To the rest of the universe atomically. If you could see the earth illuminated when you were in a place as dark as night, it would look to you more splendid than the moon.
We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.
Failure is not an option.
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
There can be no thought of finishing for ‘aiming for the stars.’ Both figuratively and literally, it is a task to occupy the generations. And no matter how much progress one makes, there is always the thrill of just beginning.
The dreams of yesterday are the hopes of today and the reality of tomorrow.
We want to explore. We’re curious people. Look back over history, people have put their lives at stake to go out and explore … We believe in what we’re doing.
Now it’s time to go.
