unhistorical:

November 9, 1934: Astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan- AKA the man who made space cool- is born.

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

We have heard the rationales offered by the nuclear superpowers. We know who speaks for the nations. But who speaks for the human species? Who speaks for Earth?

We embarked on our cosmic voyage with a question first framed in the childhood of our species and in each generation asked anew with undiminished wonder: What are the stars? Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars.

Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can. Because the cosmos is also within us. We’re made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”

I don’t want to believe, I want to know.

The sky calls to us. If we do not destroy ourselves, we will one day venture to the stars.

Happy Carl Sagan Day!