I an writing a story in which a spaceplane named the Sagan, after the late astronomer Carl Sagan, is launched towards an orbiting space station. I want to have a dedication plaque in the forward cabin with the name of the ship, details of construction, a portrait of Dr, Sagan, and a quote of Sagan’s which would be suitable for a spacecraft.
Here’s the Wikiquote page with a lot of Sagan quotes. Which one of these, or others that you can think of, would you, my fellow Dopers would choose?
P.S. The Sagan has a flyback launcher named the Newton, and for her plaque, I am using Isaac Newton’s quote, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants,” as an ironic joke.
You know, for a scientist, Sagan had the soul of a poet. I watched Cosmos when I was a kid and it was first broadcast, and my spine tingled at some of the wonderful stuff he said. Like when he pointed out that we’re all made of star stuff. (I mean, it’s obviously true, but he had a way of putting things that was really clever.)
