By Ted Grussing
… that would be the earth, the planet that we live on and which for a while will have conditions that allow us to live here. It will not always be so and at some moment in the future the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere will be so low that multicellular life cannot exist. Well before then it is believed that all the continents on earth will reunite and form a super continent again … and eventually our star the sun will consume its fuel and become a red giant star engulfing the earth terminating anything that is left before becoming a white dwarf.
I wonder if we will escape the earth and find another temporary home somewhere within our neighborhood in the Milky Way Galaxy which is home to our solar system. Any planet we do escape to, if we do, is also going to come with term limits, making us forever nomads in space … should we achieve the requisite knowledge and skills. Time for us to regain our focus on space travel … and perhaps a focus on getting along with each other so that we survive and can solve the greater issues facing us.
So, this is a shot I took near Sunset Crater on December 20th, and it is in a protected area where off road vehicles do not go … the effects of wind and rain over thousands of years is evident and in the future it will be different than it is today … not far from here is the area where NASA shaped a large cinder cone area to mimic where the first lunar landing would be and where they practiced for that landing.
Change is the norm and there is no stopping it, only adopting to and living with it. Hope the clouds lift a little more tomorrow so I can head up over the plateau; last week there was more water, rivulets and snow than I have ever seen from the air and we only have a few days before another system moves in. The water flows and grains of sand go with it … the canvas changes before our eyes.
Have a beautiful day and marvel at this incredible, beautiful, little planet we call home.
Smiles
Ted
“Bob, this is Gene, and I’m on the surface; and, as I take man’s last step from the surface, back home for some time to come – but we believe not too long into the future – I’d like to just (say) what I believe history will record: that America’s challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus–Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17.”
— Gene Cernan, American Astronaut, the last man to walk on the moon in December of 1979
Born March 14, 1934, died January 16, 2017
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The easiest way to reach Mr. Grussing is by email: ted@tedgrussing.com
In addition to sales of photographs already taken Ted does special shoots for patrons on request and also does air-to-air photography for those who want photographs of their airplanes in flight. All special photographic sessions are billed on an hourly basis.
Ted also does one-on-one workshops for those interested in learning the techniques he uses. By special arrangement Ted will do one-on-one aerial photography workshops which will include actual photo sessions in the air.
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