This was a beautiful read. I too feel an emotional connection to these great machines and the fantastic people who design, build, and pilot them. To me, our mis

This was a beautiful read. I too feel an emotional connection to these great machines and the fantastic people who design, build, and pilot them. To me, our missions into space perfectly captures everything to be admired in Humankind. It represents our inexorable daring in the face of great adversity, it showcases our insatiable curiosity, and, since the the end of the Cold War, it has united people across the globe in the greatest adventure upon which we have ever embarked as a species. From the ground the moon and the planets seem so far away, so ethereal. Yet just knowing that we have sent people and probes to touch them underlines how obtainable the impossible can be with grit and science, per ardua ad astra. It gives me hope. I wish that the spirit of international cooperation that has grown around this endeavour will endure over the coming decades and beyond.