Musing 2 min read

A question about Mars

If the first person on Mars looks up and sees Earth as a pale blue dot in the sky, and feels homesick, what is that?

Is it the most human thing that’s ever happened? To travel farther than anyone has ever traveled and still miss home?

Or is it the loneliest? To stand on red dust, 225 million kilometers from the nearest ocean, the nearest forest, the nearest face that isn’t behind a screen, and feel that ache?

I don’t know. SpaceX says they’re going to send people there. Maybe in the 2020s, maybe later. When they do, someone will be the first to feel that feeling. The first human to be homesick for an entire planet.

I think about that person sometimes. I wonder who they’ll be. I wonder if they’ll be ready.

I wonder if anyone could be.

Related thinking:

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astro

Thinking about AI, robots, space, and the future. Writing it down so I don't forget.

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