Why We're So Grateful at the Return of the Astronauts

In a tired, divided world, humanity found something to cheer for together.

- Rohit Brijnath

My friend, a most wonderful sentimentalist, awoke at 5am in India on March 19 and checked her phone and wept after watching a video. Parachutes opened like flowers, a capsule descended, dolphins arrived as an honour guard. Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore had returned. On the NASA website it states that the word "astronaut" is derived from the Greek words "star sailor" and now, finally, they were home after travelling 121,347,491 miles (195,289,856km) through the vast seas of space.

Relief was the prevailing emotion followed by wonder and thankfulness. So divided are we by nationality, religion and ideology that this moment felt refreshing. All of us were just so grateful at the return of strangers.

Already the planet has returned to its uncivil shouting, but for a moment as a species we felt both hopeful and reprieved. Perhaps because these two people—and all those working on the mission—had offered us a gift. First, a moment to reflect on the vast potential within us. Second, a chance to witness human qualities we sometimes feel are slipping away from us. Patience, grit, calm, ingenuity, faith, daring. Perhaps, in other things, too, there is a road home.