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NASA scientists recently announced that a thing from Earth touched down on a thing that’s in space.
“This is important,” said project lead Aaron Daniels, standing in front of a big television with a live feed from the thing’s camera. “This means something for the future of space travel.”
Despite representing a major accomplishment in and of itself, the Earth thing landing on the space thing is just one step in a series of explorations planned by NASA. Daniels explained that many more little things were going to be launched into the sky as well as several pretty big ones. Some of these are going to land on things, but some are just supposed to float around.
“That’s important too,” said Daniels. “The floating.”
The missions have their share of criticism, though, with Republicans and Democrats alike claiming that the space missions cost too many dollars and don’t provide enough of a return.
“What’re we going to find out there?” asked Ted Cruz, chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness. “Aliens? Rocks? Fish? Planets? Birds? I don’t know, one of those probably.”
NASA Director Tyler Clemson has attempted to silence the critics by arguing what they learn on the missions is augmented by the inventions that come along with pushing the boundaries of science.
“Without NASA we wouldn’t have velcro,” said Clemson, playing with the Newton’s cradle on his desk. “Or that frozen ice cream.”
The Earth thing is set to roll around on the space thing for a while and then blow up maybe.
