Keep voyaging.

Hit my late 30s and celebrating my vibe. In August @codyschneider58 at @scarletravencollective gave me my favorite example of wonder-in-action.

I’m just out here voyaging.

I’m about to get nerdy. Buckle up: Launched in 1977, the identical Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft is exploring further than anything created on Earth ever has. They flew by the planets Jupiter (in 1979) and Saturn (in 1980–81), and Voyager 2 went on to an encounter with the planet Uranus in 1986 and a flyby of Neptune in 1989. Early in 1990, Voyager 1 turned its camera around to capture a series of images assembled into a “family portrait” of the solar system.

In August 2012, Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause to become the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space. Voyager 2 followed it, on Nov 5, 2018.The joint spacecraft is still communicating their findings and the Voyagers are expected to have enough power to continue communicating information until 2025.

Aboard Voyager 1 and 2 is a kind of time capsule, intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials. The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record, a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth.

Here’s the thing, I get chills thinking about this.

This opportunity to put the best of us forward. To focus on what binds us together as a species rather than what tears us apart. The necessary technical skill to create such a device, coupled with the understanding that music, art, and spoken language is a critical part of the process. It’s also a reminder of just how small we are in comparison to the expanse around us. Feeling small is one of my greatest loves about space, to put in perspective my overwhelming feelings, and remember just how much we simply don’t know about it all. The unknown is a beautiful, beautiful place.

Keep voyaging. ✌️