Welcome home Commander Scott Kelly (@stationcdrkelly). Believe it or not, but this Super Nerd spent an entire year, yes a full year, in space (#YearInSpace). All in the name of science. How insane is that?!?
Why is this important? Well, if we ever want to man a mission to Mars, we’ll need to gain a better understand of how a long space flight might impact the human body. Commander Kelly’s ability to stay sane in a confined space and the sheer endurance test on his body will provide NASA with plenty of data and his return to earth is a monumental occasion that will no doubt set the Nerd world on fire. It’s events like this that lead me to believe that this could very well be the greatest time in history to be a Nerd.
Nerds have become the new high school athletic hero. Scott Kelly, Mark Zuckerburg, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Bill Nye and countless others have become the heroes of our generation. Sure, NFL quarterbacks make millions of dollars a year, but there are only 32 starting jobs. The Nerd universe is endless and there’s always room for more heroes. (And honestly, can Peyton Manning really say that he saved the world?)
Because of kicka$$ nerds like Scott Kelly paving the way for our future, I am completely excited, and honestly somewhat jealous, of all of the experiences that my own Nerds will get to see and do in their lifetime. For instance:
- The New Space Race between SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic is launching (pun intended) a whole new level of competition to turn commercial space flight into a reality;
- The need for Green Energy has never been greater and investments and advancements continue to grow — they’re saving the planet for gosh sakes;
- You can now build and program a Computer for under $100 — my first computer was the size of a large suitcase and cost well over $1,500;
- Anybody can now learn to Code in less than an hour with online programs like code.org, Code Academy and MITs Scratch;
- The Do It Yourself (DIY) movement is growing bigger and bigger every year and fantastic organizations like Make Magazine, Instructables and Popular Mechanics allow Nerds to build almost anything they put their imagination to.
- You can actually build a Robot and compete against other Nerds for world domination in First LEGO League.
And the list goes on and on and on. So much so, that there’s hardly enough space on the Internet to log it all in one place. So, look for our upcoming series on Nerd-Tastic Things and how your own Nerd can benefit from this amazing time in history.
What do you want to hear about? Write us and we’ll get cracking!