connecting the stars, to faraway land
(one of my fav shows ever, 'o' @ bellagio)
yes, space.
this morning, the orion project launched and returned in success. almost faultless.
here's nasa's brief explanation of the scope of the orion project.
http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-orion-flight-test-and-the-journey-to-mars/#.VII9ORbWbx4
that's right kids, we are returning to space!
20 july 1969, three men- brave, probably nuts and extremely capable, went up and landed on moon. six hours later, they left bootmarks on the moon. the mystical moon became a brief reality- and it was so different from what we have pictured for the entire humanity up to this point. a place with its own love (gravity), bit smaller and starker than our own home, but nonetheless, a familiar face.
however, things then slowed down. nixon axed the space program and dealing with problems at earth, we kept sending people out, but not being able to reach a new place. the international space station maintained our dreams and reality- yes, it is real. the space technology, through satellites and related technology, we can now check GPS location, send emails, connect to the world without too much difficulties. no more pigeons, of course, unless you prefer.
it is easy to focus on practicality. just like many people who lose their visions without being aware, many look down to their calendar, trying hard to get through the list of things that are demanded of them- family, job, bills to pay.
whenever i cross queen's park to get to/from work, i look up. it's a habit.
since the day i got my glasses (as mentioned in previous post), i cannot help but to look up. i can't help but to wonder what may be there that i have not been able to see.
it is gracefully rewarding, to look somewhere different. looking up, i found many beautiful anomalies, including plastic bags that flew off, flying higher than any birds. a runways balloon from a festivity, seeing the world it never could imagine in a ball room. little planes, carrying people with eyes and hearts, seeking and soaking in the view from the other side. snow that floats quietly, melting as they come- impossible to see at an eye level. rain drops that magically appear without any warning. the last leaves of the autumn and the first fuzz of the spring on sleepy buds.
yes, they are expected. they are cyclic. they happen.
but when i see them in the moment, they make me 'live' with them. often i make a little noise of wonder. as if i never grew up. breath escaping the body, in great sense of wonder: how big and how beautiful this world is.
and the success of the morning is a gigantic step for the human kind. the first one that is specifically designed to take us somewhere new- mars. i texted my friend who's got a wee kid. i asked him to watch it with the little baby. it's important!
there are rashes against such 'adventures.' what of this earth? what about the people who could use the help now? why are we dreaming of living in a space that we cannot- arid, metallic, harsh and no real source of water or oxygen? why can't we concentrate here?
if i did just that, i would've never seen the stars that fell into my eyes, forever leaving their marks, right through my heart.
as a small person in the big world, i am dying to get out next monday, to be close to the arctic cycle. why? i cannot explain exactly. i have seen it on pictures and webcams. i have read about it. however, i do know that i want to get there. once i am there, my eyes will see what they wanted to see. the vision that spoke through the heart, long before i realized it, probably.
going to mars- it's the same thing. sense of wonderment. of awe. this is huge, this IS the apollo of my generation! we are going somewhere and that new direction took a very real step today.
if we are to be practical, we all should dig holes and lie in it. by simply living, we are wasteful. after all, how many of us are actually 'important' to the rest? when my brother died, i learned that the world didnt change. it wont. it cannot. last night, hit with heavy nostalgia, i went through list of 'friends' on my crackbook. lost a few friends already. and when tried to recall all the characters that i was so attached to at certain points, i could not. a few has became apparitions of themselves already, in my mind. i could see them and recall them. i cannot get back in touch with some of them (i have no idea how to even go about that), and a few, i cannot even real their last names.
may be this is what drives me outward. gravity, which is very much like love, holds our feet down. it brings us back to where we are. we were. we can be. we can go to mars. we can come back. it may have no practical value, but no life does.
there i was, 7am, on a morning-off, eyes barely open, and i watched orion go. and at 1130am, it came back.
we are going somewhere we don't really know yet.
the call of the north will take me on monday evening, to a place i do not know yet.
i have to keep my eyes open. eyes open, for the wonderment of the world. for it to burn a bright track on my brief mind. the world is beautiful and we have a new ship. we go. i will sleep with fibrillating heart. with scintillating dreams.
there's time for many words, and there is also time for sleep.
(homer, the odyssey)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hn8qnsucwo&feature=youtu.be
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