To everyone who takes us upward.
To every engineer who turns the memory of a painful failure into an invention that saves the day. To every scientist who submits the ninth grant application before going back to the lab at midnight.
To every unremembered bean counter...who finds a way to fly an instrument that had been cut from the next mission.
To every advocate walking the basement halls of a legislative office building.
To every citizen scientist who tells a neighbor how to watch the eclipse. Every scout leader who shows someone how to build a model rocket. Every artist who weaves the planets into their pieces. Every staffer who keeps the space agencies and the universities and the institutes and the societies alive to fight another day. Every last finance associate, marketing wonk, assistant clerk, and groundskeeper who keeps the machinery moving.
To every teacher who points small faces toward the sky.
Thank you.
With much respect, from Riding with Robots
Europa simulation from NASA's Eyes on the Solar System