Mike Garcia: “Mankind has existed on this beautiful blue marble that we call Earth for nearly 200,000 years. Yet, just 118 years ago…”

“Mankind has existed on this beautiful blue marble that we call Earth for nearly 200,000 years. Yet, just 118 years ago, we learned to fly in our own planet's atmosphere. As a nation, we are thirsty for something to rally behind, something that unifies us, something that we can all be invested in, be intrigued by, be impassioned about, and something to be positive about. There isn't a better movement to get behind than our Nation's modern space program. Some question the value of spending precious taxpayer dollars to overcome our planet's gravity to go to space, but those people aren't seeing the big picture. In the early 1900s, many questioned the value of spending so much capital and risking so many lives in hopes of conquering flight, and now we can't imagine a world in which we don't have the luxury of modern aviation. We had no idea that a little canvas glider flown on a beach in North Carolina would evolve into the modern fighter jet. We have no choice but to think outside the box, think outside of our own solar system even, to make sure that we not only understand the answers to our most profound questions but also discover new questions for tomorrow that we can't even fathom asking today. We have no choice but to better understand the extensions of God's creations, to know if we are alone in the universe, to know if there is a second home somewhere out there beyond our sights and imaginations.…”