# Hitching A Ride Towards the Stars



## Desert (Jan 19, 2014)

*(random photo of stars)

When I first began traveling, if I was able to choose any destination, I would've chosen to travel to the stars. When I'm sitting by a fire at night, and I look up, I often wonder if maybe someone else in my long line of sight is looking in my direction thinking the same thing. For the longest time during my childhood, I'd always dreamed of going to the stars. After all, I was sitting in class learning about how a few decades ago man was traveling to the moon, so it couldn't be that much further to the stars, could it? But it is.

I could toss some numbers at you, but numbers like these don't have much meaning. 24 million million miles is easy to say, but not easy to grasp; and that's just the distance to a star called "Proxima Centauri" which is the closest star to our sun. And the chances of finding an Earth-like planet anywhere near us are practically nonexistent. A planet like ours could very well be on the complete opposite side of the galaxy. But we can't cross the distance because we don't have the velocity, and we don't have the velocity because we don't have the necessary energy.

So I found comfort in science-fiction. A place where anything was possible. In those worlds, traveling to neighboring planets and galaxies was as easy as flipping a switch. But these fictional worlds made me lose sight of reality, so I had to make sure to always keep one eye facing the truth. And after a while, the other eye started paying attention also.



*(Doctor Who)



*(Star Trek)

The fastest and farthest man-made object in space (which I personally deemed as the greatest traveler the Earth has ever seen) was launched in 1977: The Voyager 1 spacecraft; which, as you read this, is about 11.5 billion miles away. That sounds like a lot, but it's not. The probe is traveling at 38,000 mph, and that sounds fast, but it's not. At that speed it would take 73,000 years to reach our neighbor Proxima Centauri. And the Voyager is just a probe, a lightweight! There isn't any need to carry people, food, water, or entertainment to pass the time. The fastest a man has ever traveled is 26,000 mph during re-entry in the Apollo 10 command module: A vehicle that could support 3 men for just a few days.



*(Voyager 1 space probe)



*(Apollo 10 command module)

The biggest problem we face in galactic travel, I think, is us. Our territoriality, and our determination to breed beyond the Earths ability to sustain us. Our greed, and our shortsightedness. Our fear, and our hatred towards those from a different tribe. Our insane economic systems and our drive to war. And above all else, our inability to face reality. These are the real challenges. Compared to that, traveling to the stars couldn't be easier.



*(The Human Race)

Many of us have seen the sun rise, and in the right state-of-mind, that could be one of the most beautiful sights our planet has to offer. But I often dream of standing on a far away moon watching an entire galaxy rise a million-trillion miles away. It's only a dream, but it feels real, as if I was actually there. So small that I barely exist. But as much as I feel at peace dreaming about it, I feel an equal amount of torture. There is so much out there that I wanted to see that I never will. Stars can live for tens of billions of years, compared to them, what am I?



*(Galaxy Rise)

The truth is though, that I don't need to head out towards the stars, I'm already there! Hitching a ride on a ship called the Earth, which is flying around our star at 67,000 mph, which in turn is flying around the center of our galaxy and around 500,000 mph. I don't need to travel to a world in outer space because I'm already there standing on one. For every new discovery we make on this planet, there are 100 more out there. Different landscapes, different customs and cultures. People and places we simply can't imagine are out there, withing reach, waiting for us.












*(random google images)

What's the point of people jealous of a star living for billions of years when it can't experience one second of it? I think the stars would cry tears of jealousy towards us if they knew of our existence. Stars don't have a choice. They cannot feel. They cannot laugh. They cannot love. They cannot experience the joy and ecstasy of discovering a new land, or a new friend, or the bliss of the journey it took to get there.

While growing up, I let the darkness of the world cloud my mind. So I raised my mind above the clouds and got stuck in the heavens. I was up there for so long that I never stopped to appreciate the beauty that lay below. Eventually I realized that I would never achieve my dream of interstellar travel, so I came up with a better dream. Instead of squatting the universe, I chose to squat the planet.


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## Desert (Jan 19, 2014)

Hey everyone who took the time to read all this, I need your criticisms!

I'm wanting to get more in to journalism, so over the past few days in my off time I created this. I wanted to convey my love of science and the universe along with my love of travel and exploration.

It's messy, I know. And English was never my strong subject, but i'm only just starting out and I wanted to share with you all my creation, of which I am very proud!

But I believe that in order to get better, you need criticism. So if anyone has any questions, comments, concerns, tips, advice, or anything else, please let me know. Either on this thread or through a pm, your choice.

If all goes well, I may end up posting more here. Id like to keep my stories mostly science related for the sake of teaching, with a "travelers-twist" to keep it flowing. But who knows, I'll see how this pans out and adjust accordingly.

*Images are courtesy of google. Science related info is take from various articles and news stories that I read over time, so I can't point out any specific sources. Terrible I know, but I just wanted to get this finished, I'll be more professional in the future.


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## Odin (Jan 19, 2014)

As personal reflection that explains your drive to explore life,... the article is enjoyable. I also thought you made good choices utilizing images in visualizing your descriptions.
The only criticism I have off the bat... well I would be more positive about finding earth like planets and the possibility of interstellar travel someday.

NASA's Kepler telescope has done some great work in that area and it seems that the galaxy is chock full of exoplanets.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/education/space/planet-hunting.html


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## Desert (Jan 19, 2014)

Odin said:


> As personal reflection that explains your drive to explore life,... the article is enjoyable. I also thought you made good choices utilizing images in visualizing your descriptions.
> The only criticism I have off the bat... well I would be more positive about finding earth like planets and the possibility of interstellar travel someday.
> 
> NASA's Kepler telescope has done some great work in that area and it seems that the galaxy is chock full of exoplanets.
> ...




I agree. I haven't read many articles about other Earth-like planets, and the ones I have usually have some sort of disclaimer about how maybe the atmosphere is poisonous or something else to that nature. Out of the 100's of Earth-like planets we've found, only a few would be habitable. And I'm sure we'll be able to reach them some day, just not in my lifetime; which is why I threw in the bit about stars living so much longer than us, because they would live to see that day and I wouldn't.

P.S. - Thank you for your input


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## Synth (Jan 19, 2014)

You're passionate about this stuff and it comes out really well in your writing. Worth reading +1


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## autumn (Jan 20, 2014)

So basically you just transcribed and plagiarized one of my friends' videos from 2010?


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## Matt Derrick (Jan 20, 2014)

huh. well first, i'm curious why this is in the stories section, it doesn't really seem to fit. I'm moving it to general banter.

second, you said you 'wrote' this, but as snapdata pointed out, it's 99% plagiarized from the video above. what's up with that?


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## Arapala (Jan 20, 2014)

Lol ouch so much for that journalism thing...


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## Matt Derrick (Jan 25, 2014)

so i noticed today that desert applied to have his account deleted (the process takes 14 days). 80+ posts in and now you're gonna bail cause of this? lame.


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## Odin (Jan 25, 2014)

Seems like he might be a bit embarrassed now... Hey man people do dumb/lame shit. Just read half the shit I post or write in the chatbox.:ompus::
Just fess up... or if your somehow innocent give an honest account of your side of shit. 
Either way... I hope this doesn't sour you on journalism/writing or space or any-other kinda of self educational stuff.
Broaden your horizons man. Even if borrowed from somewhere else... lol imagination is a wonderful thing.::cigar::


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## autumn (Jan 26, 2014)

I agree with Odin, nobody is going to judge you too harshly if you admit to it. That's the most honest thing you can do, really.


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## Arapala (Jan 28, 2014)

Agreed, just admit it, and remember it's ok to be yourself dude. Your words are worth more possibly, and if you wanna get better you must write your own stuff and failure is part of the process...


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