Anyone who tells you space exploration is a waste of time and money has never looked through a pair of binoculars, much less a telescope, at even so-near an object as our moon. Show them the Pleiades sometime.... The beauty of the universe is aresting, inspiring, precious. Of course there are problems on our own planet, but if you really want to honor diversity, save the environment, and protect life then you’ll do everything you can to support and promote space exploration.

     Neil Armstrong, the first human being to set foot on another celestial body, said, “It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.” Stephen Hawking, noted astrophysicist and author, also exhorts us: “To confine our attention to terrestrial matters is to limit the human spirit.” ...A sentiment most Americans should resent on general principle; limit us? NEVER! And Maeru kai Ortega, a character in the novel Alpha Centauri by William Barton and Michael Capobianco, looks back toward Sol and says, “You know, from here the sun doesn’t look like a place where you could hide two hundred billion human beings.” ...We’re not there, yet, but... someday?
     How can we not go? How can we not?

	Spirit & Opportunity — Launch Date: June 10 and July 7, 2003 — Destination: Mars — The twin rovers landed in January, 2004 and began a detailed geologic survey of the fascinating red planet. This hyperlink will take you to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Web site, wherein you will discover much information, many images, and mission updates. I wish I could go with them! Update: The rovers have far exceeded their expected operational lifetime and are continuing to send back buckets of information about Mars. Congratulations to the engineers!
	Cassini-Huygens — Launch Date: October 15, 1997 — Destination: Saturn & Titan — Cassini-Huygens (HOY-ghens) arrived at Saturn in June 2004 and already it has discovered a wealth of interesting things, including new moons and a new ring. The mission is two-fold, like the ill-fated Gallileo mission to Jupiter: an orbiter and a descent probe. Update: Huygens made a textbook-perfect flight to Titan and performed perfectly during its 2.5-hour decent to the surface! The European Space Agency is in charge of the Huygens probe and the analysis of its data. There are some really great pictures. There’s a countdown timer on this JPL Web site so you’ll know just when to watch NASA TV for the next big encounter or fly-by. Very geeky; I love it!
	MESSENGER — Launch Date: August 3, 2004 — I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a while for the real dirt on this mission. The MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) mission will not achieve orbit around Mercury until 2011. This is a disappointingly long time for someone like me who wants to visit the farthest stars right now but I am doing my best to contain my irritation. MESSENGER is making several fly-bys and gravity-assist orbits of other planets to conserve fuel. It takes a lot of energy to decelerate enough to reach an orbit so close to the sun!
	SOHO — Launch Date: December 2, 1995 — The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory is a joint project between NASA and the ESA to study the nearest star to Earth. By understanding and learning to predict the vagaries of this nearby fusion reactor, we can learn all manner of interesting things about the environment of space and how it affects weather on our homeworld. Did you ever want to discover a comet? This is a good place, strangely, to do that. Over 900 comets have been discovered since SOHO was launched, most of them by amateur astronomers who simply look through the archives of SOHO images.

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	The Nine Planets — A non-technical collection of general information about the various bodies in our solar system. The discussions are up-to-date and easy to understand, and include information about not only planets and their moons, but about comets, asteroids, and the spacecraft visiting them.
	Bad Astronomy — Phil Plait presides over an informative and amusing site dedicated to the debunking of astronomical misconceptions. That is, misconceptions about astronomy, rather than misconceptions that are astronomically large... though a lot of them could be described that way, too. Sometimes it’s movies he reviews, but just as often it’s the popular press or a bunch of conspiracy nutters. Everything from the “Face” on Mars to Planet X (supposedly it’s going to destroy the Earth) to why stuff just doesn’t work like that! A haven for phsyicists and realists everywhere. If you’ve ever watched a movie and said, “Hey, that’s not how it goes!” this is the place for you.
	The Planetary Society — A space advocacy group that lobbies for more exploration and research. Several celebrities are on the board of directors, and several astronauts and authors are on the advisory board. Basically, it’s the NRA of extraterrestrial exploration and advancement. Sometimes, I think they come across as just a little juvenile, but that’s probably just to expand their audience. I had to let my membership expire a while back, due to financial constraints, but now that I’m more or less back on my feet, I will rejoin. Plus, the society periodical, The Planetary Report, is informative and easy to read, even for people without degrees in astronomy or astrophysics.
	HubbleSite — Everything you wanted to know about the Hubble Space Telescope but were afraid to ask. This enormously successful astronomical research mission has been in orbit around the Earth since 1990 and it’s still going strong. Though the instrument is now somewhat out-dated and with replacements like the Spitzer Space Telescope (an infrared instrument) and the soon-to-be-built James Webb Space Telescope, the Space Telescope Science Institute is still accepting proposals for research work with the good ol’ HST.
	Astronomy Picture of the Day — APOD for short; one of the few acronyms you’re ever likely to hear me speak aloud. Every day of the week means a new picture, even weekends and holidays! Astronomical phenomena from distant galaxies to the aurora borealis, from the nine planets of our own solar system to the mysterious star-forming regions of our own galactic neighborhood, from the faintest infrared to the hottest gamma radiation. Every picture is explained and annotated by professional astronomers, observers, and astrophysicists. I sometimes spend hours just following the links, eploring the universe from my desk chair.