Fifty Years In Space

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Explorer I, the very first spacecraft put into orbit by the United States. In the half century since we've accomplished much. Our nation has landed a dozen men on the moon, launched numerous missions to other planets in our solar system, and landed robotic rovers on Mars. Most spectacular of all our accomplishments is the Hubble space telescope, which continues to return breathtaking photos of our universe. And though I've posted the below video before, I'll do it again because it's just so gosh darn awesome.

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But we're not done yet. Even today we have the International Space Station in orbit, with astronauts constantly occupying it, and performing valuable scientific experiments involving the germinating of tomato seeds in outer space and, um, the germinating of tomato seeds in outer space. And who knows where the coming years will lead America? Some day, perhaps, we may even be germinating cucumber seeds in space.

And that would be an accomplishment we could all be proud of.