Stars

There’s no official birth certificate, but tradition has it that Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564.

It is certain that, today, April 23, 2021, in the wee hours of the morning, a SpaceX Falcon rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Four astronauts were onboard. They’ll spend the next six months working and living in the International Space Station.

Today’s launch represents the continued advancement of the partnership between NASA and privately-owned space flight companies. Among the achievements realized through this work is the development of a reusable rocket.

The rocket used in today’s launch is designed to return to Earth and land on a platform that is floating in the ocean. There won’t be a splashdown or broken bits and pieces falling into the sea. Instead, the intact rocket will gracefully touch down and will eventually be used once again on future launches.

Understandably, Shakespeare didn’t write about space flight. But he did write about doing things we think we cannot do, about imaginary worlds and seemingly impossible dreams. So perhaps there’s a little symmetry between his birthday and today’s space launch. A bit of a cosmic connection.

Men at some time are masters of their fates;
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2