The Pale White Dot

On This Day In History
1865: C.S.S. Shenandoah learns the Civil War is over

Quote Of The Day
"The very last act of the Civil War was Captain Waddell walking up the steps of Liverpool Town Hall with a letter to present to the mayor surrendering his ship to the U.K. government. In so doing, Shenandoah became the only Confederate warship to circumnavigate the globe."
(Wikipedia)

Bonus Quote Of The Day
“The Cosmos extends, for all practical purposes, forever. After a brief sedentary hiatus, we are resuming our ancient nomadic way of life. Our remote descendants, safely arrayed on many worlds throughout the Solar System and beyond, will be unified by their common heritage, by their regard for their home planet, and by the knowledge that, whatever other life may be, the only humans in all the Universe come from Earth. They will gaze up and strain to find the blue dot in their skies. They will love it no less for its obscurity and fragility. They will marvel at how vulnerable the repository of all our potential once was, how perilous our infancy, how humble our beginnings, how many rivers we had to cross before we found our way.”
(Carl Sagan, The Pale Blue Dot: A Vision Of The Human Future In Space)

OK. Confession. I took this photograph yesterday. My son asked me yesterday evening if I would like to see the International Space Station crossing Japan. He didn't need to ask me twice. So here it is. From a vessel flying the flag of one nation in war to a vessel flying the flag of fourteen countries in peace; that's progress, mankind.

"One world we all come from.
One world we melt into one.
Just hold my hand and we're there.
Somehow we're going somewhere."
I'll Find My Way Home