At any time in our lives, we can turn our heads upward and look to the multitudes. We can see infinity at any given moment. That is, if we decide to look and reflect.
Our Universe continues outward to depths unknown. It amazes me, when small, little me, considers just where I am standing. On the head of a mere pinprick in the vastness of this place. I am less than a dot.
Maybe it is for this reason that humans have been so preoccupied with exploring that space. For it was on this date, April 12, 1961, when the first person was launched into space. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was that man.
He snuggled into the spacecraft Vostok 1. It was a real race to space back then, and I am sure the Soviet government had no problem shooting old Yuri into the air without truly knowing the outcome.
They’d done the same before with a dog. Yes, Sputnik 2, launched on November 3, 1957, carried the dog Laika. Now there was a brave girl. She was the first living creature to be thrust into space and orbit Earth. Sadly for her, it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Laika was a stray dog found on the streets of Moscow. Those big mean Soviets had no plans to return her to Earth, and she lived only a few hours in orbit. What a horrible way to die. For anyone.
I’m sure the Soviets had higher hopes for Yuri. But probably not much higher.
Yuri was 27-year-old at the time. A test pilot and industrial technician. His journey took him around the planet in 89 minutes. He reached a maximum altitude of 187 miles And that’s how he flew.
After the success of his trip, Yuri became an instant worldwide celebrity. He went viral. Or the equivalent of such a thing back then. He was given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. They built statues of him and renamed streets after Yuri Gagarin. Gagarin Boulevard, Yuri Avenue, and such.
So here we are, sixty years later. We are still pushing bodies in tin cans up in the air. But we aren’t getting very far. Not really. I mean, we’ve been to the moon. That’s 238,900 miles away, which is a three-day trip.
And then there is the Space Station. Much closer. That is only 254 miles away. So, the same distance from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh. Roughly.
Other than that, we’ve sent out a few rovers. Mechanical data-gathering beasts.
Why do we keep going? Is it wanting to know the unknown? In 2017, an interesting and official document was revealed. A group of high-level officials and scientists with deep black experience came forward with a statement. They were insiders who had long-standing connections to government agencies.
They said we are not alone.
The team included a 25-year veteran of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, a Lockheed Martin Program Director for Advanced Systems at “Skunk Works,” and a former deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Among others.
In essence, their very long report stated that UFOs exist. Its team members believed that there was “sufficient credible evidence of UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena) that proves exotic technologies exist that could revolutionize the human experience.”
The article I found was lengthy, but the men interviewed basically reported that unknown flying objects had been reported by upper-level pilots, et al. They had been studied and verified as having technology outside of the human scope.
This report was kept pretty quiet in 2017, but the activity was verified again in 2021, this time by active government officials. They’ve confirmed there is technology in the skies, and it appears to exceed our human capabilities.
So. Maybe this is why we keep going to outer space. Perhaps we want to meet the others.
As for Laika, the Soviet dog? I hope there is a heaven for dogs, and I hope she is pissing on all the Soviet statues.
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“I stopped reading science fiction once I saw that the UFO was real. It became science fact that just hasn’t been proven yet.”
― Mike Bird
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I happen to be privileged enough to be in on the fact that we have been visited on this planet, and the UFO phenomenon is real.
— Edgar Mitchell
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I believe there are other forms of intelligence in the universe. I’ve seen and heard some pretty convincing UFO stuff. Besides, if we’re the most intelligent things in the universe… well, that’s just depressing.
— Rekha Sharma
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Beam me up Scottie so we can live long and prosper.
