Citizens in Space!

It’s hard to explain how I felt when I read this article about citizens taking a trip to the International Space Station.

There have been many wonders discovered in my lifetime:

And these are all great things that make life so much easier, even better. I remember when you needed to put food into a pan or pot and on the stove to make it hot.

When you had to actually stand up from the couch and walk over to the TV dial to adjust the channels. When I was sick, I watched one channel unless someone changed it for me.

What can I say about the internet? You wouldn’t be reading this without it. Amazing!

But when I first started reading science fiction as an early teen, my favorite stories were about space. Traveling to space. Traveling through space. Adventures in space. The moon, asteroids, other planets. Even the ones they say aren’t really planets at all. (Don’t get me started on this!)

I read the “Lucky Starr” books by Isaac Asimov, Heinlein’s “Have SpaceSuit Will Travel”, and, well, everything I could get my hands on from the public library or used bookstore. I devoured them.

Sure, we put a person on the moon before I was born. Or, er, maybe I was really young at the time. Either way, I don’t remember it happening, but I learned about it in school.

Don’t ask me what important conversation my wife and I had five minutes ago, but I can tell you very clearly how the first step to conquering the stars is to begin with a space station, because it would much more efficient to assemble and launch starships outside the Earth’s atmosphere. So, space station first, then…space.

My point is, much of the science fiction I read as a young teen and beyond is now highlighted by current events. While the space station has been there for some time, bringing ordinary people from Earth crosses a threshold in my mind. Okay, ordinary (but very rich) people today, who knows what tomorrow brings?

And that is what excites me. We aren’t just moving forward technologically, we are following the predictions of authors many years ago who had a vision of where mankind would be. We are now living their vision.

Which makes me believe that maybe anything we dream can become possible.

What do you believe? Please comment below!