“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.
Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist.
Be curious!”
-- Stephen Hawking (January 8, 1942 - March 14, 2018).

Astrophysicist, cosmologist, and author Hawking, who was paralyzed by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) and in a wheelchair from age 22, never stopped exploring space.

No, darlings, he didn’t hop a lift with an interplanetary visitor’s spaceship (but we’d bet he would have rolled aboard if given that opportunity).

But although he didn’t make it to Mars or other galactic real estate, he explored the universe with his mind and curiosity, revolutionizing ideas about black holes, relativity and quantum mechanics – and why humans need to look to the stars and pursue space travel. He managed to explain all this and more in his books, too. “The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet,” he warned.

Defying all medical predictions, Stephen Hawking, director of research at the University of Cambridge Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, managed to live to age 76. Although he never got to travel off-planet before he left us for that great mystery on the other side, he was able to experience weightlessness just as astronauts in training do, thanks to NASA. And despite his paralysis, his delight and wonder was enough to be felt, we like to believe, all over the planet.

Intrigued by what’s “out there” and why it matters? Of COURSE you are darlings, or you wouldn’t have read this far. Don’t be shy (it’s a rather outdated look, by the way), be brazen and learn more! If you are new to Hawking’s work, his book “A History of Time” is a great place to start. And remember this advice from Stephen Hawking:
“However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”