A Quick Look Back Home, and Thanks

"You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the Moon, international politics looks so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, 'Look at that, you son of a bitch.'" -Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Astronaut

It was nearly 50 years ago that we left Earth for the first time.

Image credit: B. Anders, Apollo 8, NASA, in 1968.

We've walked on the Moon.

Image credit: Voyager 1, NASA, in 1977.

We've sent spacecraft to all the planets in the Solar System, and subsequently out of the Solar System.

Image credit: Galileo Spacecraft, NASA, and JPL, in 1992.

We've used the Earth's gravity (and that of other planets, too) to slingshot spacecraft to whatever destination we please within our Solar System, and taken the most unbelievable pictures of our Universe.

Image credit: Clementine Spacecraft, NASA, in 1994.

We've formed complete maps of not only the entire Earth, but many of the other bodies in the Solar System, including the Moon.

Image credit: Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft, NASA, in 1998.

And our journey through space, the stars, and the Universe continues. Our travels and explorations have taken us so far, but the Earth and Moon are still the only home we've ever known.

Thanks to all of you for all your support, curiosity, and interest over the years, and for the birthday wishes, too. We've got plenty of Universe still to explore, but I wanted to take a moment to share with you these great views of our universal home, and to say thanks for the great inspiration you've been to me along this journey so far. Let's keep going! There's always more to find out...