Elon Musk’s SpaceX roared into history on Saturday
rocketing two astronauts on a 19-hour journey to
the International Space Station.
The first launch from U.S. soil in a decade was a success in every way.
The mission is the first in a new era of space exploration
that will take us back to the moon, and then to Mars — and
beyond. Humankind needs this. The planet needs this.
[Earlier story]
Our planet is in trouble
listen: there's a hell
of a good universe next door; let's go
— E.E. Cummings
We all know the trouble we’re in — the planet Earth is dying — polluted air we can’t breathe, contaminated water we can’t drink, social chaos spiraling out of control, an endemic of racism tearing us apart, pandemics coming at us right and left, people dying in the hundreds of thousands — if the killer microbes don’t get us, starvation will — and if that doesn’t do it, some psycho politician will figure out a reason to start a nuclear war — Ha-ha, what fun we’ll all have — 7.7 billion people on a speck of dirt with nowhere else to go.
Unless…
Urgent message to the SpaceX crew, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, true blue heroes in the Dragon spacecraft atop the Falcon 9 launcher — currently upright at launch pad 39A in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Get your astronautical asses in gear, lads, fire those rockets and go baby go, to the Space Station on Saturday, and the moon later this year and Mars next year — and beyond, just like the Starship Enterprise — it’s humankind’s only hope.
The launch will mark America’s first return to space since the Space Shuttle program was retired in 2011.
As thunderstorms lurked around Cape Canaveral, there was a 50-percent chance of a “Go” at 3:22 p.m. ET Saturday.
