The tension was unbearable. Seconds from now the LSH-13 mission would launch, ending mankind’s 40 year exile on this island Earth.

I remember when manned spaceflight was an adventure. We had landed on the moon and had gone back. Then tragedy struck and we watched it unfold on live TV, until it killed three of the bravest men in history. They almost made it home, but once their fate was sealed the mission commander implored the world, “Don’t let our deaths end man’s journeys into space. We belong here, as sure as the stars do.”

Of course, we didn’t go back. NASA had barely survived the catastrophe, but manned spaceflight did not. Eventually robotic missions resumed, and even flourished. Some even say that the space probes are more advanced now than they ever could have been if we had continued sending men into space.

In these last few moments before man takes the first few tentative steps back into space, I remember Commander Lovell’s words: “We belong here, as sure as the stars do.”

I concur. It’s time.