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Humans have longed to explore the universe since ancient times. Early attempts to do so failed miserably, as spacecraft crashed into planets or lost all power and momentum due to unexpected weight. However, with the advent of space age technology, space exploration has become a practical reality. Thanks to advanced technology, space travel is now safe and efficient. Space research is a booming industry that generates valuable information that helps us understand our planet and create sustainable technologies for future generations.

One of the greatest minds of the 20th century was Albert Einstein, who revolutionized physics with his theories regarding the curvature of space. In his famous theory of special relativity, Einstein postulated that local space and time are independent concepts. This concept posited that local space can be separated from general space and time in an instant without any consequences to the former. This concept informed the later generation of traveling faster than light— an ill-famed but nonetheless exciting concept in which both local space and time are affected by acceleration in general space. Accompanied by this leap in thought, however, was a less-celebrated one of how astronauts could survive in space without a cosmonaut’s assistance. In 1961, NASA launched its first manned spacecraft— called a “space capsule”— which carried two crew members aboard for several days in orbit. This mission became known as the “International Space Station” or ISS today due to its length from multiple countries worldwide. In a previous life, I had the honor of working on NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft as a designer and test engineer for three years before becoming an instructor at several colleges and universities on other projects such as solar sailing craft and Mars rovers. To this day, inspiring young people through science is one of my passions because it has always been so important to our species’s evolution toward reaching greater goals than survival!

In 2018— 50 years after NASA’s first manned spacecraft launched — NASA’s latest spaceship entered Mars’ thin atmosphere safely where it landed within sight of Gale crater’s famous dusty red rocks! The Curiosity Rover is equipped with 10 scientific instruments to study Mars’ rocks, soil conditions and atmosphere while also conducting surveys on nearby mountains for future human expeditions on Mars-1 (the next generation). To date, 15 other unmanned Mars rovers have explored various parts of this planet over many decades since 1971 when humanity landed its first man on the moon! Space exploration extends far beyond sending humans into outer space; we have learned much about outer space by exploring other planets under outer-space-exploration programs such as those mentioned above using sophisticated scientific instruments such as cameras and spectrometers.

In light of humans' long desire to understand ourselves and our universe through innovative discoveries in science and technology, we can be optimistic about humankind's future where dreams become realities! To that end — I wish you happy reading!