Stargazing Guy

– Alan Shepard (18 November 1923 – 21 July 1998)

Alan Shepard was the second person and the first American in space. He later commanded the Apollo 14 mission and was the fifth person to walk on the moon. Now that’s what you call making a mark!

He was recorded as saying:

“I realized up there that our planet is not infinite. It’s fragile. That may not be obvious to a lot of folks, and it’s tough that people are fighting each other here on Earth instead of trying to get together and live on this planet. We look pretty vulnerable in the darkness of space.”

Josh Getlin, Los Angeles Times (19 July 1994) “What Does Moon Flight Mean Now”, The Seattle Times, p. A10

Since then many have talked about the fragility of Earth including Jeff Bezos, quite recently. Bezos stated, after his sub-orbital flight on New Shepard on 14 April 2021:

“Every astronaut, everybody who’s been up into space, they say that it changes them, and they’re kind of amazed and awestruck by the Earth and its beauty, but also by its fragility. And I can vouch for that.”

Jeff Bezos

My preference is for Bezos’ vision of the future of humanity – not bound to the surface of planets by the shackles of gravity. Humanity will become a truly space-based civilisation, living on giant space stations (or O’Neill cylinders), spreading life throughout the galaxy and leaving the planets as places to visit, explore and to leave fallow to see what future life might evolve – and maybe join us in space.

In the meantime, we wait for further launches of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, currently scheduled for February 2024.

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PS: I love coffee. BuyMeACoffee, leave a message with a date and time and we can share it, remotely, at the same time, and think about the Cosmos.

In the meantime, take care of yourself and if you can, someone else, too, because as Adam Smith said, “we naturally desire not only to be loved but to be lovely”.

Remember, hope lives here.

Opening image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alan_Shepard_on_Lunar_surface_(14391405702).jpg
AS14-66-9230 (5 Feb. 1971) — Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr., commander, holds his right glove over his helmet visor as if to shade his eyes from the brilliant sun. This photo was taken by astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell, lunar module pilot, through the window of the Lunar Module (LM). Shepard and Mitchell descended in the LM to explore the moon, while astronaut Stuart A. Roosa, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) in lunar orbit. This photograph was taken during the first of two extravehicular activities (EVA).

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