A High Note in the Bleak 2020 News Cycle

(I originally posted this on my Facebook Machinia group page)

In the midst of this challenging year there are signs of optimism. Rapid vaccine development for the COVID disease that has ravaged the world must be lauded as a profound achievement. An equally big piece of news was the successful launch of SpaceX' Starship prototype, SN8. While the news focussed on its fiery landing it was the flight that was the big news. A human passenger ship that will eventually make routine flights to the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter is well underway by Elon Musk and the motivated engineers of SpaceX. These are people who see the extraordinary challenge of space travel and embrace it. A lesson to all of us that literally or figuratively, reaching for the stars is part of the human condition.