And then there was one

[meirwen_1988]

I just watched the Endeavor lift off.
Last night, during the end credits of Thor I nearly sobbed--you see, the end credits are like flying through shots from Hubble, and because it is 3D, and well done, it was...

I have no words for how it made me feel.

These two things, coming so close together, make me think of a childhood full of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. Of Enterprise. And Asimov, and Bradbury, and Clark.

And my heart is full, and my head packed with thoughts, and somewhere, way down inside, is anger.

And then there was one.

And then there will be none.

This deserves a long, thoughtful post. But for now, I will borrow words from another:

"Ask ten different scientists about the environment, population control, genetics and you'll get ten different answers, but there's one thing every scientist on the planet agrees on. Whether it happens in a hundred years or a thousand years or a million years, eventually our Sun will grow cold and go out. When that happens, it won't just take us. It'll take Marilyn Monroe and Lao-Tzu, Einstein, Morobuto, Buddy Holly, Aristophanes .. and all of this .. all of this was for nothing, unless we go to the stars."
 

--Jeffrey Sinclair, "Infection," Babylon 5
J. Michael Straczynski

Comments

[dicea.livejournal.com]

*nods*

i went back and reread this:

http://www.heinleinsociety.org/rah/thisibelieve.html

[retiredmaj.livejournal.com]

The quote you provided says it all. I grew up wanting to be an astronaut, watching the same NASA missions as you. "Star Trek" touched my young heart in a way that went beyond a simple love of science fiction. It offered the dream that we could continue to expand. We wouldn't become perfect in the process (which that show made clear as well), but we should strive for it. In doing so, we will achieve more than we can evision here and now.

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way, and I love the Babylon 5 quote.

[blairya.livejournal.com]

...right there with you.

When I was a kid, I remember VIVIDLY playing in my cousin's backyard (the cousin who eventually went on to work at NASA and assist with the shuttle program). We would put the lawn chairs on their backs and pretend to be Apollo Astronauts in space, looking up at the stars.