Today I showed everyone at work just how utterly space-nerdy I really am: I watched the space shuttle Atlantis dock with the International Space Station on NASA TV. All day. I highly recommend it. If your boss walks by just tell them it’s a motivational video.

Their mission is nothing spectacular: just a not-so-routine payload of spare parts. This way the ISS doesn’t need NASA to send another shuttle to bail them out every time the urine recyclers stop working or the Canadarm needs a joint replacement (never!!). While I was very interested in the details of mission, what truly captured me was was the fact that I get to live in this time and this place where we can watch humanity reach for the stars. Now, more than ever, we are making leaps and bounds in the fields of astronomy, astrophysics, astrobiology, nanotechnology, robotics, string theory .. this list goes on. Every field of science is blossoming with new discoveries every minute of every day. Those of us who are just nerdy enough to follow dailygalaxy , NASA_Astronauts and carolynporco tweet feeds know that we are approaching a new Renaissance¬† .. or at least it feels that way. The brilliant scientists at CERN are about to start up the worlds most advanced machine, the LHC, and begin smashing sub-atomic particles together in a way that will reveal secrets about the formation and structure of our universe … this Friday! ¬† We’ve found water on the moon, dark matter on the earth and taken pictures of the beginning of time itself. What an amazing time to be alive!

As as I watched the ISS and Atlantis dance and copulate in orbit above our small blue planet, I felt like I was a part of something special.¬† It was truly moving.¬† Although I’ll never get the chance to be directly involved in these first steps forward towards humanity’s space-faring future, i can be a witness to it. I can be a champion of Science and a preacher of the wondrous glories of the Universe that it shows us.

And so can you.

BoyInfidel