I have a confession to make.

I’m in love with outer space.

It began on July 28th, 2008. I was reading the news like I usually did over my lunch break, and found this story in the Mojave desert. I knew about the Ansari XPrize, and that the first private flight to space had been done. So I was surprised to hear that not only had Sir Richard Branson founded a company called Virgin Galactic behind private space flight, and not only that they had a working prototype viewable by the general public, but that they were also expecting to send tourists to outer space en masse by early 2010.

That’s just next year. At the current rate of technological development, every one of you reading this will be in space, in our lifetimes. If that doesn’t excite you, nothing will!

My appetite grew. I started learning more about NASA. I contemplated the profound implications of the Hubble Deep Space image. I discovered how utterly massive some of the stars in the sky are.

I recently read reports about how much debris is floating above our atmosphere. I’m not a big anime person, but I started watching Planetes, which is a fictional (but very realistic) account of an attempt by international space programs to clean up space debris.

I bought and played the game Mass Effect because of its space setting.

I found the song “Major Tom (Coming Home),” recorded by Shiny Toy Guns. Usually I don’t pay much attention to the words of any song, preferring the instrumental track behind them. But these lyrics have enthralled me.

Standing there alone the ship is waiting
all systems are go; “are you sure?”
control is not convinced, but the computer has the evidence
“no need to abort;” the countdown starts

watching in a trance the crew is certain
nothing left to chance all is working
trying to relax up in the capsule
“send me up a drink” jokes Major Tom
the count goes on

Earth below us drifting falling
floating weightless calling calling home…

second stage is cut, we’re now in orbit
stabilizers up running perfect
starting to collect requested data
“what will it effect when all is done?”
thinks Major Tom

back at ground control there is a problem
“go to rockets full” not responding
“hello Major Tom, are you receiving
turn the thrusters on we’re standing by”
there’s no reply

Earth below us drifting falling
floating weightless calling calling home…

across the stratosphere a final message
“give my wife my love” then nothing more

far beneath the ship the world is mourning
they don’t realize he’s alive
no one understands but Major Tom sees
now the life commands
this is my home I’m coming home

I listen to Space Station Soma in my free time. And I watched the new Star Trek movie with my wife.

It’s a fun obsession, one that I hope to continue as long as it doesn’t interfere with my work or family life. I hope to share other related links as I explore space further.