Beyond these achievements, Apollo’s most profound legacy may be its effect on the human spirit. It was our first step — a baby step, but an important one — onto another celestial body, and as such, affirmed our birthright as explorers. As Michael Collins, the Apollo 11 command module pilot, once said, “People will go where they can go.” Whether it’s over the hill to the next valley, or through space to the next world, they always have. When one considers the many dire threats facing humanity today, it’s more a case that people must go where they can go. And as long as some part of us is human — even thousands or millions of years in our evolutionary future — we always will.

Source: Los Angeles Times July 04, 2019 10:18 UTC