Orion Launch

Thirty minutes ago, a new era of American space exploration dawned with the successful launch of NASA's Orion spacecraft. Orion will be used to carry humans into deep space and eventually to Mars. In a week that has been marked by setback after setback for progress in both our state and our nation, this launch is a welcome reminder of what we can accomplish when we marshal our resources for the common good.

Watching the Orion launch, I couldn't help but think of President Kennedy's 1962 speech launching America's race to the moon:

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

Let's capture that same spirit of exploration and mission anew.