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2026...A TIME TO CELEBRATE HUMANITY'S INGENUITY As we enter 2026, with the fundamentals of science being challenged, research funding being cut, and thousands of our best and brightest minds being summarily dismissed, it can be difficult to remain positive or hopeful.And yet, it is worth pausing to reflect on—and celebrate—what humanity is capable of at its very best, despite so many challenges, and reaffirm the belief that truth, science, and reason will ultimately prevail.Consider what we have accomplished in just one hundred years.On March 16, 1926, Dr. Robert H. Goddard, after repeated failures and years of being mocked and ignored, dreamed big and successfully launched the world’s first liquid‑propelled rocket. It was a crude and fragile device, fueled by pressurized gasoline and liquid oxygen and ignited with a blowtorch attached to the end of a stick. The flight lasted only seconds. And yet, it marked humanity’s first tentative steps toward leaving our planet and exploring the universe.Seemingly against all odds, just forty‑three years later, the world watched as a fellow human being walked on the Moon.Just fifty years after that, our robotic explorers have visited every planet in our solar system. Voyager launched in 1977 now travels through interstellar space, more than fifteen billion miles from Earth. The James Webb Space Telescope is redefining our understanding of the cosmos. Like Goddard’s early rockets, Webb began as a bold idea many believed was too complex to succeed—and yet it did.Both of my parents lived well into their nineties. Take a moment to reflect on how much humankind has achieved within just their lifespans. As we look ahead to Goddard’s upcoming historic First Launch Centennial, https://lnkd.in/eN7aGm9k let us seize this moment not only to honor his historic legacy, but to simultaneously recognize, honor, elevate, and celebrate those who carry his torch today—our “Today’s Goddards.” And, even more importantly, let us raise the bar to help inspire our “Tomorrow’s Goddards”: our young generation who dare to dream boldly, imagine what has never been done, and will go on to achieve the unimaginable.Ad Astra!