Science can be boring, I have to admit. Believe me, I majored in a science.
HOWEVER!
Somehow, NASA made it exciting.
Or maybe because I always like learning about space and the universe. I recall when I was in 4th and 5th grade, I would go the library and check out books about planets and the universe, and stars, and all kind of spacey things. My awe and wonder about the universe never waned. But it never crossed my mind that I could have and should have pursue a career in NASA or something related.
Or maybe when I was in high school and old enough to watch whatever I want on TV, I would watch Star Trek: The Next Generation during the 90's, most of the reruns. (I know, exciting stuff...) I had stumbled across old reruns a few years ago, and decided to watch almost all 7 seasons of it on reruns from January through July, and then follow up with watching all 13 Star Trek films. I go on to watch a few other movies, like Lost in Space, and the Adam Project.
I felt NASA made science more relevant. Through their social media, they connected with the audience. Hopefully a younger generation. Like you can still do the science but have fun. The four people who went around the moon and back in the first part of April 2026, they were real people. They seem to have fun. I don't think they were jerks to each other. I'm sure maybe someone had said, "Are we there yet?" The toilet broke three times. Outlook wasn't working. They woke up to "Moon Tunes", like Pink Pony Club, beamed up from Mission Controls. There was a video clip of a jar of Nutella floating around before they went behind the moon. They emailed home. There was livestreaming of the spacecraft hurdling towards the moon (although there were times it went blue). We got to see them doing life, seemingly almost normal things (aside from the floating) in a spacecraft the size of a mini-van. That was some 10-day sightseeing tour to the moon!
It makes me question myself, "I wish I had work harder and I wish I had done that." My major wasn't that far off from doing the space things. I majored in Mechanical Engineering, in a department called Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at NC State University. But, honestly, I am not really THAT smart. No, really. I am embarrassed to say what my GPA was when I graduated. One famous YouTuber is Mark Rober who majored in Mechanical Engineering was an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and worked on the Curiosity Mars rover. I'm just pointing this out because ME's can work in a lot of different careers and at NASA. They don't have to have a degree in Aerospace Engineering.
The one thing that impressed me about this recent moon mission is what two of the astronauts said about peering out of the windows of their spacecraft, looking at the earth in the vastness of space.
Victor Glover said in a sort of an Easter speech,
“As we are so far from Earth and looking at the beauty of creation, I think, for me, one of the really important personal perspectives that I have up here is I can really see the Earth as one thing. When I read the Bible and I look at all the amazing things that were done for us… you’re on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe and the cosmos. Maybe the distance we are from you makes you think what we’re doing is special, but we’re the same distance from you. And I’m trying to tell you — just trust me — you are special. In all of this emptiness — this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe — you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together. I think, as we go into Easter Sunday, thinking about all the cultures all around the world, whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not, this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing, and that we’ve gotta get through this together."
That "thing" I think he's trying to say is that we are all humanity, of God's creation, made in God's image. I know he was put on the spot when he spoke these words. But from a Christian perspective, I think he was trying to explain that in order to live with each other on this planet, we have to work together, and love each other, and serve each other in humanity.
Christina Koch also said something similarly,
“The thing that changed for me, looking back at Earth, was that I found myself noticing not only the beauty of Earth, but how much blackness there was around it and how it just made it (earth) even more special. It truly emphasized how alike we are, how the same thing keeps every single person on planet Earth alive. ..."
While I don't know Christina's religious background, it sort of sounds like she had a similar emotional tug about her heart about the blue planet and the people on it.
And here's my thought on space travel. We should do it. For a long time, I actually didn't understand or don't know why we would ever go into space. I thought it was the thing of science fiction. It was just good enough for us to sit back in our seats on Earth and gaze at the cosmos. But hearing that these share experiences are similar, it makes me question, "What does it really take for humanity to understand God?" I mean, are we meant to go into space? Are we meant to travel the universe? Can we physically, mentally, emotionally handle it? And most importantly, can we spiritually handle it?
To end this blog, another story I ran into I think yesterday about Reid Wiseman's experience. He describe the experience as something he could not explain... “When I got back on the ship… there was just no other avenue for me to explain anything or to experience anything. So I asked for the chaplain on the Navy ship to just come visit us for a minute… I’d never met him before in my life. But I saw the cross on his collar, and I just broke down in tears.”
No comments:
Post a Comment