And then there was one

I just watched the Endeavor lift off.
Last night, during the end credits of Thor I nearly sobbed--you see, the end credits are like flying through shots from Hubble, and because it is 3D, and well done, it was...

I have no words for how it made me feel.

These two things, coming so close together, make me think of a childhood full of Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. Of Enterprise. And Asimov, and Bradbury, and Clark.

And my heart is full, and my head packed with thoughts, and somewhere, way down inside, is anger.

And then there was one.

And then there will be none.

This deserves a long, thoughtful post. But for now, I will borrow words from another:

"Ask ten different scientists about the environment, population control, genetics and you'll get ten different answers, but there's one thing every scientist on the planet agrees on. Whether it happens in a hundred years or a thousand years or a million years, eventually our Sun will grow cold and go out. When that happens, it won't just take us. It'll take Marilyn Monroe and Lao-Tzu, Einstein, Morobuto, Buddy Holly, Aristophanes .. and all of this .. all of this was for nothing, unless we go to the stars."

--Jeffrey Sinclair, "Infection," Babylon 5
J. Michael Straczynski