Ponder it.

This photo was taken on 11/16/2022 by a camera on the Artemis 1/Orion spacecraft on its way to the moon.


This is the first view of our pale blue dot of a water-soaked rock of a planet from this distance (~58,000 miles at this point) from a human-rated spacecraft since the Apollo 17 mission of 1972.


From this view, we see…

everything that gives us life and a future, everything we hold dear to us, everything that truly matters…

there are no countries, no dividing lines on maps, no walls, no human-created barriers, no labels, no division other than that imposed by nature.

All the things that divide us were created by us to divide us…all these divisions exist only within our minds.

These things we have fought over for so long, killed countless people over, claimed as ours – they just do not exist in reality.


In reality, what you see is what you get: a single, shining, incredibly fragile oasis of life in the ice-cold wastelands of space…a pale blue water-soaked marble giving all of us – the entire human family and all our animal, plant, and fungal friends – a place to share and call home.


Now is the time we stop fighting over what we should be sharing.

Now is the time for us to stop harming our only life support system.

Imagine.

Imagine what we could do if we all just worked together toward the common goal of a better future for us all.


Dare mighty things.

Do only good things.

Ponder it.

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Another orbit completed successfully

Another trip around the sun completed successfully.

Some perspective: On this day (July 15th) in 1968 I came into this reality – whatever this reality really is – and as of today, I have existed in this reality for 54 earth years.

Some perspective and observations.

I was premature so I had to cook in an incubator for a while until my body took over and I could support myself without the assistance of science and technology.

I was soon adopted by two amazing people Cathy and Clayton – who accepted me into their home as their own child. They later adopted another child in need and named her Lesly who then became my wonderful sister. She met Jonas and they raised two wonderful children – Cody and Ashlyn – who I just know will go above and beyond and do great things. I am lucky and proud to be a part of this family.

I was born in the middle of one of the times of the greatest scientific and engineering achievements humankind has ever experienced: the Apollo-era moon missions and landings…and, fitting the space exploration and cultural turbulence of the times, the first incarnation of Star Trek – my favorite TV series – was on TV…and it still is and all of its incarnations and I love them all for the messages they bring to all of us – if we have the capacity to understand and accept them and put them into practice.

I have been alive (whatever that means) for ~473,040 hours and accruing. I have orbited our closest star Sol 54 times. I have now traveled around 31,536,000,000 miles (50,752,272,384 kilometers) through space in an ever-spiraling circle around a rather remote and average little yellow star while riding on a water-soaked living rock along with you and over 7.9 billion other naked, bi-pedal, mostly hairless, multi-colored, fire and tool-using, thinking apes, and countless other amazing life-forms – while spinning at an equatorial rate of around 1000 mph (1,609.3 kph) while at the same time passing through the icy blackness vacuum of space at around 67,000 mph (107,826 kph) in our orbital path around the sun while also orbiting around Sagittarius A* the supermassive black hole in the center of our home galaxy at a rate of around 514,000 mph. At this rate, it will take me, you, our wet rock, and our star – about 229 million years to make one trip around the galactic center thereby completing one Galactic Year. And all of this, all of us, everything, our entire Milky Way galaxy – is traveling through intergalactic space at around 1.2 million mph (1.9m kph) relative to the cosmic background radiation.

Ponder it.

So far, I have had an amazing existence full of tons of excitement, exploration, friendship, laughter love, and light as well as periods of loss, pain, hardship, and a little bit of darkness.

I was here the last time Haley’s Comet passed by our pale blue watery rock of a dot in 1986 (and I plan to be here to see it again when it comes back around again in 2062).

I rode along in spirit and in support of every space exploration mission humanity has launched since I can remember way back as a 4-year-old kid watching it happen live (well, almost live since round trip communication time between the earth and moon is 2.6 seconds) on TV and then running outside in the yard to look up at the moon where the last Apollo astronauts were bouncing about the lunar surface in the early ’70s. I have since watched in awe, great appreciation, and hope as the space programs of planet earth sent many amazing interplanetary probes to the Sun, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Titan, Neptune, Pluto, asteroids, comets, asteroids, and more. I watched as the incredible Space Shuttles flew on huge pillars of flame and 15 nations set aside their differences to build the International Space Station – a castle of science, discovery, and international cooperation 249 miles above all of us in the “sky.” Today I am elated at the rapid evolution of non-governmental space exploration and travel organizations and I hope to see us back on the moon soon – and then sometime before I kick off – great shiny Starships landing on Mars. Go SpaceX! Just a few days ago I witnessed the mind-blowingly beautiful and deeply data-rich images from almost the beginning of time and space come beaming down to all of us overly encephalized hairy tit-sucking mammals living upon this pale blue dot from the incredible James Webb Space Telescope – and I look forward to seeing more that will come to us over the next 20 – 30 years and am so excited for how much the JWST’s imagery will increase our knowledge of our own cosmic evolution.

I chased nature and wild animals, first as a child for personal interest sake, and later in the name of science, education, and conservation of species. My favorites being the misunderstood creatures of the world such as reptiles, amphibians, bats, Opossums, and vultures.

On a few occasions, my body was invaded by festering armies of microscopic “wildlife” that tried to use me as a replicator for more of their kind and/or end me, and yet, my own immune system as well as the findings of many, many great scientists that came before allowed me to boost, augment, and bio-hack my body through the use of antibiotics and vaccinations thereby giving me a “force field of science” inside and out so I could continue awkwardly onward into the future.

In 2014 I came closest to feeding the soil, worms, and trees when a rather archaic and not that useful part of my internal anatomy (my appendix) malfunctioned and suffered a massive R.U.D. (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly) – so I had it removed by a robot that was designed by science and piloted by a scientist we all call a doctor so I could continue in my present state of gangly existence.

In 2016 I had an encounter with a wild venomous serpent (Timber rattlesnake) who was only defending himself due to my accidental stupidity and, while I was in no danger of meeting my end – it did really hurt a bit and slow me down for a few weeks (yes, the snake still lives in the wilds of the forest 🙂 ) The only way I was able to overcome this one without losing a finger and possibly suffering lasting damage to my body was through the findings of science. Yep, there is that science thing again. Ain’t it wonderful 🙂

This past year the current plague impacting humanity (SARS CoV2) finally caught up with me. It was no fun at all and took me out for a week or so but I recovered – again thanks to science and my science-augmented immune system.

On all these close calls (and many I have not even been aware of due to my science augmented/trained to recognize and destroy the “bad guys” immune system via all the vaccinations I have gladly rolled up my sleeves to receive since I was a small child 🙂 ) I was given another chance at existing in this reality through the findings of science, miracles of modern technology and engineering…and possibly a little bit of some as yet to be discovered by science mystical energy field or omnipotent ancient and possibly extraterrestrial/interdimensional intelligence that, for some really disturbingly strange reason, many individuals/cultures/factions on the planet have coined many different names/stories/belief systems for – yet cannot ever seem to agree upon…and often even choose to childishly take sides, argue, fight, and believe it or not even murder each other over…so bizarre and childlike is the proudest monkey.

IMHO – if this intelligence exists – it is as far “above” us as we are “above” our closest relatives the Chimpanzee and Bonobo…or maybe the bacterium…or the virus. Whatever the case, I’m pretty sure that if it does exist it might be studying us as we study the animals…or the virus…and it cares not one single bit about our posturings on its behalf, the myriad of books we write about it, our childish bickering on who/what it is, who or what is “right” and “wrong,” who uses which bathroom, who’s skin is what color, who is “left” and “right,” etc. – just like we do not care about the comings and goings of bacteria and viral organisms…until they invade our personal space and become overpopulated…hmmmm…something important to ponder if you are able to see deep enough or large enough to ponder it…

At an early age, I became tired of all the factions telling me what to do, how to believe, how to think, how to live my life, and how to be a human – so I chose to follow my own path. I chose to listen to nature, to the evidence and logic and teachings of the wilderness, and to the findings and ponderings of the great minds and philosophies of history. Some may call me a “free spirit” – nice! – thank you! Some have called me “lost” – really, how rude! But whatever the case may be this is my path, no one can choose it for me and likewise, I will never try to force it on you or anyone. You must all find your own path.

I learned to drone a didgeridoo – so very ancient and cool!

I fell in love with a wonderful, beautiful, and intelligent human female called Marian and we settled down a bit…but not too much 🙂

A few years later I fell into a wonderful career inspiring, leading, and sharing nature, science, and reality knowledge with amazing at-risk youth on the connections, beauty, and joy of nature, wildlife, science, and life the universe, and everything.

While working to inspire tomorrow’s youth to better themselves by connecting with nature, wilderness, wild things, and to trust science and let it be their guide in life – I have connected with so many amazing human beings in my students and my coworkers – my life has been so deeply enrichened from my time with all of you amazing people and I am so grateful for all of you and your lasting contributions to your classroom and to my personal journey.

My incredible students, interns, volunteers, amazing friends Jim and Bob, and I all worked together over many solar orbits with many more amazing project supporters to build a photovoltaic solar power plant that benefits not only our classroom and campus but the entire local community with clean, locally-produced renewable energy from our nearest fusion reactor in space – the sun! Update: During my most recent solar orbit we all – and some wonderful and most-generous new friends – worked to create a solar-powered mobile outreach classroom called the SS NaSA PoD (Science Steve’s Nature and Science Adventure Pod of Discovery) – that will allow us to bring our nature, wildlife, and science messages to our students and to the region – so cool!

About 10 orbits ago my wife and I started phasing out almost all our connections to nature, life, and future-harming dirty fossil fuels. We have been driving mostly electric since 2013 and intend to soon go fully electric with most of our transportation, energy, and fuel needs coming from EVs and local renewable energy sources.

Just a few solar orbits ago the amazing findings of the science of genetics and DNA sequencing allowed me to connect with my wonderful biological father, sister, brother, and other awesome family members and answer many of the questions about my genetic roots and my connections to nature that I have had since an early age.

And now I find myself near the end of a global viral pandemic that has sadly ended the lives of many and upset the lives and plans of most. As before, I will follow and trust the science as I ignore all the other randomly repeated, vociferous, evidence-lacking, overly emotional, opinions and options and roll up my sleeve and gladly accept the expertly recommended vaccinations against this microscopic attacker (but I did still get the virus – only not as bad as some I know who did not or could not roll up their sleeves). I will continue to trust in science, even with its changeable and incomplete nature, to give me guidelines and support during this global human emergency. I hope you will choose to join me and in doing so, together, you and I will get through this thing – and hopefully, I will still be here to rewrite this yet again next year on this day.

Whatever all the facts and reasons may be, I am very glad to still be here on this incredible and sometimes bumpy but always interesting wild ride through the cosmos with all of you other crazy wonderful, and beautifully mixed-up mosh pit of humans and always wonderful animals.

I’m not sure where we are going or when, where, and why we exist – but wherever, whatever, whenever, and whyever – at least we are making good time and it has been and will continue to be one heck of a wild ride through the cosmos on this one strange rock we all call home.

Thank you all for being here and for riding along on this roller coaster called life with me 🙂 Now let’s all take another spin around the sun together on spaceship Earth!

Improvise, adapt, overcome, evolve, survive, and thrive.

Live long and prosper.

Bring the change.

Be the change.

Do good things.

Coexist.

One Love.

Peace.

WTF happened???

It is 2022.

By now we were supposed to have flying cars, starships and space stations full of people, outposts on the moon and Mars, thinking robots living among us, renewable and fusion energy sources powering our lives, unlimited low-cost resources from a 100% recycling-based economy, equality, coexistence, and freedom for everyone and all creatures.

WTF happened?

A small number of greedy, wealth and power-mad, crusty old white men who fear change – choose to focus on outdated ancient dogma and toxically-tribal, control-focused, anti-progress, knuckle-dragging fear, and warmongering tactics – are hell-bent on stopping anything and anyone who wants evidence-supported progress, positivity, and coexistence.

These twisted, small-minded, hateful, heavy-handed, charlatans, are plotting and scheming to destroy any chance the majority of us have at a better future by undermining anything that works to better our lives.

The question is why?

Why are they so focused on destroying the future?

I am not targeting one specific political or religious “team” – I despise the competitive “team” approach because it was designed from the get-go to divide us from each other. I am calling out all of those – whomever they are – who constantly and consciously choose to ignore the evidence, ignore reality, ignore the voices of the people and instead choose to do all in their power to – out of greed, control, and possibly even out of spite – choose to do exactly the opposite of what should be done. It is as if they are choosing to intentionally screw things up for future generations.

Maybe I am giving them too much credit. Maybe they are just idiots who do not have the capacity to think ahead and see the consequences of their decisions. Maybe their minds are dumb from breathing leaded gasoline most of their lives, and/or numb and blinded by so many years of conditioning and programming from whatever cult of personality they choose to worship telling them their way is the only way no matter what the evidence, common sense, science, or their rotten, putrid little shriveled stone of a heart my try to say to them – if they even have a heart.

It seems that these toxic individuals may be working to infiltrate the very framework of our society and are trying to divide all of us from each other.

Why? What is their goal?

Why would anyone willingly choose to put their own greedy self-interests over any chance at a healthy, happy, future for all…hmmm…I wonder why?

I suppose the answer comes down to the fact that genetically we are still so very young in the evolution of our species.

It was not that long ago that we were living in caves eking out our existence with only rock, stick, and fire as tools. We were terrified of anything outside of our very limited frame of reference. Anything different than what we or our tribe knew in our daily existence would be labeled a threat and destroyed – out of fear and self-protection.

Therefore, since not enough time has passed to rid us of these ancient ways of thinking it seems that even though we have technologically evolved to turn our rocks, sticks, and fire into cement, steel, electricity, and rockets – some of us still have strong genetic traces of our ancient tribal tendencies and for some it seems that these fear-based tendencies are absolutely impossible to overcome.

We still often fear differences in others.

We still often attack that which is unknown to us.

We still often deny reality in favor of myth and legend.

We still often harm those we love for false feelings of power.

We still often seek comfort in what we know – not in what could be.

Even with all our amazing accomplishments – many of us still will often choose the path of fear, hate, greed, ancient comfortable dogma, and today, over the much better options of acceptance, love, generosity, peer-reviewed evidence, and tomorrow.

The big question is this: will we ever evolve past our infantile, child-like, me-first, bully-like, natures – before we kill ourselves off?

Maybe, maybe not.

Maybe one day we will overcome the natural odds and evolve to transcend our short-lived primate bodies and the physical world to become one with the energy flow of the universe.

Or maybe we are just a failed evolutionary experiment destined to become only a plasticized blip in the rock-recorded fossil record of deep time.

Only time will tell.

Strive to rise above the status quo.

Strive to find only the positive in life each day and to extinct the negative.

Do only good things.

Be the change.

Improvise, adapt, overcome, evolve, survive, thrive.

Space is big. You are not.

Photo Hubble Ultra Deep Field. An estimated 10,000 galaxies are shown in this image from the Hubble Space Telescope. Photo Source: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30946

Space is stupendously massive with countless galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars and trillions of planets and moons. Statistically, there must be life elsewhere in the cosmos and IMHO most of it is probably microscopic and/or not intelligent/spacefaring.

However, if there are intelligent, spacefaring species out there, and if they have visited us – then the massive scale of the cosmos and the incredible technology, knowledge, and ability needed to traverse it would suggest these beings would possess technology and intelligence as far “above” ours/us as we are “above” the chimpanzee…or the ant…or the bacterium…or the virus…and lately and with each passing day, evidence reveals that some humans seem to be de-evolving and acting more and more like a virus.

Therefore, as we mostly naked, multi-colored, bipedal, primates will often camouflage ourselves with our technology and technique in order to study other life forms upon our planet without revealing ourselves to them…

…it is very possible the extraterrestrials have similar technologies (yet vastly superior to ours) that would easily hide them from our detection. Yes, that would then suggest that all the blurry photographs, videos, books, and eyewitness accounts/interviews over all the years by all the people claiming to have seen/encountered/been abducted by aliens are in fact – 100% pure and total bunk manufactured by charlatans wanting attention and fortune.

Another possibility exists: they have been here in the past and yet may still be here (maybe not them personally but their technology – think: cellular/internet-connected wildlife/trail camera traps/webcams etc that would allow them to remotely study us from the comfort of their home planet) studying us as we study other lifeforms on earth – such as looking at chimps and deer in the forest, ants under a magnifying glass, bacteria under a microscope, or African wildlife visiting a waterhole…

Check out Earthcam for many examples of what I mean: https://www.earthcam.com/events/animalcams/

It is also possible that many randomly selected and/or “of importance” or “special interest” humans have been “tagged” with 100% undetectable with our current technologies tracking devices (no, not injected via anal probes or vaccinations – oh lord people please grow up and just stop it with the TV/hollywood inspired stories and lame conspiracy “theories”) so as to be observed by these extraterrestrial observers in the attempt to study the mundane and unique among our species and learn more about us as we wildlife researchers work to learn more about the natural life movements of wild creatures currently existing with us on our home planet.

Or, they may, in fact, be so far evolutionarily, emotionally, and technologically advanced “above” us that we are only mere curiosities to them…or of no interest at all…

Maybe, due to the destructive, hateful, selfish, natures, and our viral reproduction and expansion without any concern for future generations – maybe our solar system has been put in a physically distanced quarantine zone far from the rest of the galaxy and its populated worlds until we children grow up out of our dangerous malignant infancy, start taking care of our planetary life support system, and coexisting with each other and with all species on this strange water-soaked living rock we call earth.

Another view of our home. Can you find the earth in this image? Yes, we are there, the tiny pale blue dot hanging in space under Saturn’s rings on the lower right.

A close-up view.

That’s here, that’s home, that’s us.

Photo Source: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/185/the-day-the-earth-smiled/

Home from 1 million miles away.

Photo source: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/86257/an-epic-new-view-of-earth

“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” —Neil Armstrong

It’s all a conspiracy!

No, actually – it is not…I was just trying to get your attention 😉

I am sharing this link not because I was one of these people, I am sharing because many people have found themselves in this position and have been able to recognize the trap they were in and then get themselves out of it before it was too late. The link is a story of great advice from one of these individuals who recognized the danger and got out – others, however, are not so lucky and will need help from friends and family in finding their way out of the deep, dark, pit of conspiratorial thinking they have fallen into. Without a ladder or a rope of loving support from their loved ones – and sometimes the long arm of the law – they will dig themselves in even deeper and the ever-increasing depth of the pit will increasingly prevent them from escaping the gravity well they have fallen into – a gravity well that is crushing the life out of them and often, everyone around them.

IMHO, intentionally denying verifiable, peer-reviewed evidence and instead choosing to support conspiracy “theorist” “thinking” and belief systems – is one of the most dangerous threats we face in working toward a prosperous future for us all.

Have you unfortunately found yourself stuck in that bizarre world of conspiracies where you actually fully believe everything is a lie, a cover-up, a hoax?

You know what I’m talking about – but just in case you need a refresher – here are a few of the more common examples:

Area 51 is hoarding and hiding alien bodies/artifacts

The Apollo moon landings were staged/produced by Stanley Kubrick…

The earth is flat…or hollow…

Australia does not exist…

Lizard people are controlling our government…

Giants once existed…

Dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time…or dinosaurs never existed and their bones are a manufactured to give scientists a job…

Chem-trails are real…

Pizzagate…

911 was staged…

The “deep state”…

Climate change is a hoax…

Covid 19 is a bioweapon and was manufactured in a lab by Bill Gates and friends, and/or Bill Gates is putting tracking devices in vaccines to track/follow/control you…

Vaccines cause autism…

The democrats/republicans/greenies are plotting to take your freedoms…

The virus is not real and mask mandates are about control…

College brainwashes people to become liberals…

All that Qanon nonsense…

…yada, yada, yada…


If you believe any of these and/or similar bizarre claims and beliefs – without seriously analyzing and questioning the authenticity of those claims and beliefs…the what and the why of what and why you believe what you believe – and especially if you believe these things without any verifiable evidence to support your claims and beliefs – then you may have inadvertently become stuck/trapped in a cultish following that has hijacked your brain.

Ask yourself some serious questions:

Is this belief system taking up a large portion of my time?

Have I ended friendships or am I fighting with family members over it?

Have I dropped out of school or lost jobs because of it?

Am I living in constant fear of friends/family/neighbors/strangers that I once respected?

Am I afraid – terrified – of what may happen next?

Am I stockpiling food and weapons?

Am I always online “learning” and “researching” the latest claim, “theory” or “truth”?

Am I worshiping an ideal or a person in power/politics/prestige as a “savior” of humanity or our “tribe” or way of life?

Am I worried that friends who listen to and support the recommendations of science are the ones who have been duped?

Am I concerned and/or do I believe that education and knowledge are work of “the left,” “evil” or “the devil?”

Do I believe that I am 100% right about my beliefs because simply my belief system, my friends online, and/or that loudmouthed “woke” guy on YouTube, or my favorite end of the world/prepper/echo chamber website (that interestingly is always asking for money to support their cause) – tells me so?

If any of this sounds like you then please, get professional help now before it is too late.

The fact is this: if no evidence exists to support their/your claim, “theory,” or belief system – then in all the probability that exists – that claim, “theory” or belief system is – most likely – simply wrong/erroneous and/or manufactured – probably to make some slimy, smelly, troll in a dim, dank basement somewhere – loads of money – your money.

Sadly, you may have already lost your freedom to whatever the belief system it is that is controlling you and you will see everything and everyone as a lie, a hoax, a threat to you and your freedom.

Again, if any of this sounds like you then please, get help now before it is too late – before the gravitational pull of the lunatic fringe pulls you past the point of no return and you disappear over the event horizon into the black hole of darkness never to return to the land of the living.

If you can find the inner strength to realize you made a mistake – as the brave woman in this story did – then you can rescue yourself from the toxic world of conspiracy theorists and lies. Next is a story of a man who realized he was conned by the Qanon crazy and got out before it totally controlled his life.

Personal freedom comes when you find the inner strength to break the molds imposed upon you by the conspiratorial, religious, and political conditioning that ended your childhood trust in others and destroyed the insatiable curiosity all children have in the natural, real, observable, measurable, and so very fragile connections between all things in the cosmos.

Until you are able to shed the toxic skin of your past – or the mind predators of your present – you will run the risk of remaining easily controlled, divided, fearful, and under the thumb of the charlatans who want to own your life for their own personal gain.

True freedom does not come from without, it comes from within. It comes from letting go of all the things that have a hold on you, that control your thought process – and replacing them with only reality – even if the reality is that no one is really in control and we are all working, fighting, clawing to exist on a tiny, inconspicuous, remote, wet rocky speck of a rather ordinary planet orbiting just another ordinary star in just another ordinary galaxy in this vast ocean we call the cosmos.

We may not be all that special when it comes to the vastness of the cosmos, but each and every one of us are unique, special, one of a kind individuals and we each have wonderful gifts, talents, generosity, compassion, and love to offer to those around us. Let go of the imaginary things that control you and open your eyes and see reality as it really is – and then you will truly be free to live, share, and enjoy the life and time you have.

Life is not about the ending, it is about the living.

Live, laugh, love, learn.

Do good things.

One Love.

Be Like NASA

NASA is amazing.

In the late 1960 and early 1970’s they put a total of 12 human beings ON THE MOON with the

Apollo mission series.

NASA not only landed a dozen humans on the moon but they also put several different experiments on the moon – some that are still working to this day…

…and three Lunar Roving Vehicles – yes, NASA put “cars” on the moon…and they are all still there waiting for our return.

They then brought the astronauts, and hundreds of pounds of moon rocks they collected, safely back to earth for study – and they did this 6 TIMES!

Buzz Aldrin looks back at Tranquility Base and the Lunar Module Eagle.
Credit Neil Armstrong and NASA.
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/apollo11-gallery

…oh, and they rescued three stranded astronauts who had a terrible mishap in space (Apollo 13) and brought them home safely.

Everyone cheers, waves American flags, and worships the astronauts and NASA as the amazing heroes they are.

Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin ticker tape parade. Credit NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/apollo11-gallery
Earthrise. Credit NASA.
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1249.html

NASA sends multiple space probes, landers, and rovers to the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and many of their moons and then, sends back photos and videos and lots of science of these amazing places that astounds the inhabitants of our world greatly increasing our knowledge of our place in our home solar system, our galaxy, and in the cosmos.

The first Pale Blue Dot image. Credit Voyager Space Probe.
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/540616main_pia00452-43_full.jpg
The second “Pale Blue Dot” image of Earth from Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft: http://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2013/07/Cassini_s_Pale_Blue_Dot

People all over the planet are astonished, amazed, and humbled at the beauty and reality of this outstanding scientific knowledge drop.

NASA’s car sized Mars Science Laboratory “Curiosity” takes a “selfie” on MARS. Source: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

NASA works with the ESA and other space agencies to land a space probe on a comet!

Yes, you read that correctly – a COMET!!!

Comet 67PCG as imaged by the Rosetta Space Probe. Source: http://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Rosetta

After taking almost a decade to arrive at comet 67PCG the people of planet earth watched in awe as the tiny spacecraft Rosetta rendezvoused with the comet and then, released its even more diminutive lander Philae which later briefly touched down and later came to rest – albeit at an unusual angle – on this ancient wandering body in space. Amazing data on the origins of the solar system was gathered, people of earth were astonished at the preciseness of the calculations – the coding, the math, and the science – required to make all this awesome discovery happen for our species.

NASA (and many other space agencies) have put several massive space telescopes into orbit that reveal the existence of countless galaxies, solar systems, and over four thousand exoplanets – some similar to our homeworld – orbiting other suns, and many other amazing hidden secrets of the cosmos.

The Hubble space telescope above earth. Credit NASA.
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html

People are again speechless and agape with awe at NASA’s skills at this science thing.

The Hubble Extreme Deep Field Image. Credit NASA. Source: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/xdf.html

NASA builds a fleet of reusable “space planes” – the Space Shuttle.

Shuttle Discovery in orbit with a piece of the ISS. Credit NASA. Source: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

…and then teams up with 15 other nations to build a massive space station – the International Space Station (ISS) – that is now orbiting 250 miles above our planet and moving at a speed of 17,500 mph.

The ISS above earth. Credit NASA. Source: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/overview/index.html

This ISS has been continuously occupied by different astronauts from many different countries for over 20 years.

ISS Pizza Party. Credit NASA. Source:

It is an outpost in space that allows us puny fragile humans to live and work in a weightless environment in order to further our knowledge of our species and its place in the universe – and to prepare for deep space missions back to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Expedition 24 flight engineer, looks through a window in the Cupola of the International Space Station. Credit NASA. Source: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/overview/index.html

BTW: This is a space station that you can use a smartphone locator app (ISSonLive, ISSLiveNow, ISSDetector and more) to find in the night sky and then see with your own eyes from your own backyard. People are enlightened and astounded to the reality of it all.

A Space shuttle above Florida, USA – photo taken from the ISS.
Credit NASA.
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/overview/index.html

NASA launches thousands of satellites that allow us to monitor the weather to plan our day, know our exact location and navigate better upon the surface of the planet (GPS), communicate across the world (global satellite communications, satellite TV, satellite internet, satellite phone etc.) – people are like

YAY NASA GO NASA WOOT WOOT!

NASA tells the world – several years early – a total eclipse of our star – the sun – will be happening on a certain day, at a certain time down to the second on a future date – so you better be there in a very narrow zone of totality across the continent or you will miss this once-in-a-lifetime “Great American Eclipse” event. Everyone takes NASA’s word as gospel and a mass migration of humans moves into position along the described zone of totality and all witnesses this totally amazing total solar eclipse.

Crowds gathered nationwide to watch the spectacle.
Everyone was ready and in place for the once in a lifetime event.

The solar eclipse during totality, seen from outside Crowheart, Wyoming; the photograph uses exposure bracketing to show both the Sun’s corona and the surface features of the new moon itself, illuminated by earthshine. A few solar prominences are visible around the lunar limb. Credit: Michael S Adler

Just as NASA scientists had stated several years before the event – the moon passed between the sun and the earth and at the exact times and locations as NASA had previously predicted – the Great American Eclipse happened.

Mike drop.

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NASA and many, many other scientists (all the way back to Clare Patterson – who not only discovered the age of our planet but may very well have saved all of us from lead poisoning) tells us that our earth is very, very, very old – on the order of 4.55 billion years to be as exact as scientifically possible.

Earth gif. Source – the “interwebs.”

This astonishing fact is supported by tons of geologic evidence in the crustal rocks of the planet and our Moon as well as evidence from ancient asteroids and comets as well as in the chemical/geological makeup of all planetary bodies in our solar system.

More on this topic: https://www.space.com/24854-how-old-is-earth.html

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_the_Earth

Yet today, even with all the before mentioned NASA awesomeness, and all the piles of evidence…

…many humans continue to choose to claim our planet is less than 10,000 years old…see: Young Earth Creationism.

This topic would not be complete without debunking the bizarre myth that we humans lived alongside dinosaurs. Put simply – no, we did not. If we had, we probably would not be here because they were DINOSAURS!

Stated a bit more clearly and with awesome animations.

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NASA uses its best science and technology to confirm our home planet is in fact round…and many, many, astronauts and spacecraft with cameras go into space and report that yes, our planet is in fact round.

Astronaut Mike Massimino over Earth. Credit NASA and Mike Massimino.

…and some people are like – NOPE. I just don’t believe it because from my point of view on the surface of the planet it just looks flat.

Riiiiiiight.

Some insight into the roundness of our planet.

Furthermore…

Imagine you are a bacterium on a beach ball – “Small sections of large curved surfaces will always look flat to little creatures that crawl upon it.” – NDT

I’ll let Neil Degrasse Tyson take it from here…

Source: NASA Blue Marble 2012. Credit NASA. Source: https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-is-earth-58.html

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NASA uses its best space and earth based tools (satellites, aircraft, ice cores, historic temperature readings, atmospheric monitoring stations, tree rings, lake and ocean sediments, and the peer-review process, etc.) to generate solid evidence supported by the vast majority of the planet’s scientists who study the earth’s climate systems to reveal their evidence to the world that our human activities are driving climate change by burning too many fossil fuels way too fast…

…and some people have chosen to totally ignore and deny this peer-reviewed evidence and are like –

“NOPE. I just don’t believe it.”

!!WTF humans WTF!!

If we do not want to have our home planet become another Venus

…if we do not want our beautiful round planet to continue to be populated by a growing number of willfully ignorant, science and evidence doubting, conspiracy supporting, myth and legend preaching humans…

…if we do not want our species and many others to go the way of most of the dinosaurs…

…then, as we have done in the past in all matters of space and earth science, when it comes time to make the big decisions that impact us all and our shared environment – then we really need to start listening to NASA and the other experts who study our planet, our environment, and our climate and we need to fully trust them to guide us in our decision making process.

This is not rocket science but it is the definition of critical thinking: Disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, informed, and supported by evidence .

We need to be more like NASA.

We need to unite behind the science.

The future hinges on the decisions that we make today.

Choose Wisely.