Space Talk...

Okay, so I was never a space kid. I didn't learn the constellations. I don't know what Apollo mission did what. I have no idea who the first astronauts (aside from the ones everyone knows) were. And I don't know who did what first.

It kind of makes sense. I mean I wasn't born when they first landed on the moon and I was only three when they stopped going. The Space Shuttle program picked up when I was in middle school and it captured the attention of a lot of my peers. I wasn't one of them. It seemed like a let down to me. We used to go to the moon and now we just fly a big airplane around in circles? I understand now the applications of the benefits, not just in the ISS transportation but in being a step toward further space exploration but 12 year old me was not really impressed.

And then when Challenger blew up my senior year of high school I really wasn't interested at all anymore. It seemed like a disaster just waiting to happen. And eventually it did again. Then they shelved the whole Space Shuttle program and we all sort of moved on. Maybe thinking about how we use other peoples rockets to get crew to and from the ISS but that's about it.

Now we have our billionaire fuckbois who want to have the biggest rockets you've ever seen really cheapening what "going to space" means. I mean, yes, technically those people have 'been to space' but they were riders on an airplane that flew a bit higher than other airplanes, but much lower that the Space Shuttles did. And what sort of science was learned from Katy Perry or William Shatner going in to space? That hot air lifts? We already knew that.

There was one time in my life that I tipped into being a stargazer. Brent and I did a tour in Hawaii that took us up to the giant telescopes on Mauna Kea. It was an incredible view of the island, super cold. And then the tour company took us back down the volcano a bit and gave us hot chocolate and fresh cookies. That's not the cool part, but it was pretty cool. The cool part was they had telescopes set up and people who were space people there to tell us what we were looking at. Now just being up on the mountain, just being in the absolute dark of Hawaii, with the naked eye you could see more stars than I have ever seen before. The Milky Way was visible. So many stars it really let you feel the depth of space. It felt like being wrapped in a velvet blanket. Dark, black, yet with texture.

And then the telescopes? A.maz.ing. We saw galaxies, multiple galaxies, we saw the planets around us feeling so close we could touch them. It was a highlight for both of us and neither one of us expected to love it as much as we did. It was the first time I really understood why someone might want to be an astronaut and go into space. It was the feeling I get when I stand next to the ocean. So small and insignificant, yet also a part of something so large.

This week I think I understood something else about space missions and why they capture attention. The moon landing happened in 1967. The United States was in the middle of a shit show in 1967. All of the moon landings were during that incredibly turbulent time. But it was a moment to separate from the horrors that were happening, and marvel at something else. To think about better worlds. Better outcomes.

This week when those four astronauts left to go farther into space than anyone has before, when we all held our breath as they launched, when we have seen the most incredible pictures coming back, we have been able to disconnect from the shitshow on Earth and see the beauty above and around us.

Space is an escape. Not the escape that the billionaires want it to be. A way to find a new planet to exploit, but an escape nonetheless. It's a way of stretching our imaginations. Of being held in awe of what is there, just beyond us, if only we take the time to look up. This mission has been an opportunity to disconnect from our Mad King and imagine something different. A chance to celebrate science and achievement. And also beauty and wonder.

I'm still not a space kid, but I get it a little more now. And I did tear up a little looking at the photos from the NASA flickr account. I'm not saying you might need a little disconnect today, but you might need a little disconnect today, and I highly recommend those photos.

Love you all.