God elevated the forehead of man and ordered him to contemplate the stars

I may not believe in the existence of a god, but the quote was inspiring to me when growing up. 50 years ago today, the first human being left the planet. Over the subsequent years, several more have done so, but ultimately, the number is depressingly low. Without the pressures of the cold war, we've arguably taken a step backwards when it comes to space exploration. Fortunately, there is some hope that private companies will enable spaceflight at reasonable costs in the not too distant future. Let's hope so. I don't want to live in a world where spaceflight is deemed unimportant.