Like a lot of little kids growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, the night sky was a place we visited often, even though our gleaming spaceship moved in perfect arcs entirely inside our heads. All those stars and planets in testament that we are not alone, and that maybe one day we might visit. Then in 1969 we did, proving if nothing else that while we tend to 
dwell obsessively on our internal squabbles, we are also pretty amazing beings when we get out of our own way. Think about the courage, tenacity, grit and wisdom it took for early peoples to sail across oceans without really knowing what they might find on the other shore. Might they sail off the edge into the abyss? Now think about how much more it took to leave the planet and stand on the moon, our blue and marbled home so far away and that same abyss at our back. We have taken a brief hiatus from the outbound train, but we have not stopped letting our eyes drift upward to the great canopy of lights. I sense our unbound exploratory drive is beginning to probe the unknown once again, reaching out to touch something new. The red planet beckons (there!) and we have begun to make our plans. We don’t yet have all the science and lack certain technologies but the greatest obstacle — the will to get out there — has been overcome. I hope I am around to see it, but even if I am not I have already walked the red dust, footprints into forever, humbled by the sheltering sky.
whoisfenton 