Happy International Space Day, everybody!
I just thought it would be appropriate to mark the occasion with a little tribute to the man who started us on this adventure.
Yuri, this one's for you.
Space Race or not, this was a defining moment for humankind. Suddenly we weren't just a group of tribes divided by politics or religion: we became one. We didn't fully realise this at the time, and we're still struggling to grasp it now, but the moment Vostok 1 soared into the heavens we became part of a wider reality. We may occupy a small blue-green planet falling through space, but we're not little, trivial people anymore: we're citizens of the universe with greater responsibilities.
In addition to the achievements of Gagarin, Alexei Leonov, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and the many other brave men and women who pushed the boundaries of human exploration, we should also take a moment to remember those we lost along the way.
This is your day, too, guys: in our hearts forever.
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| Soyuz 1 pilot: Vladimir Komarov |
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| The crew of Soyuz 11: Vladislav Volkov, Georgy Dobrovolsky and Viktor Patsayev |
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| The crew of Challenger: Ellison Onizuka, Michael J. Smith, Christa McAuliffe, Dick Scobee, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik and Ronald McNair |
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| The crew of Columbia: David M. Brown, Rick D. Husband, Laurel Blair Salton Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael P. Anderson, William C. McCool and Ilan Ramon |
