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NASA, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
There is something in the American spirit that simply cannot stay put. It pushes west, it climbs mountains, and when there are no more mountains to climb, it looks to the stars.
On this day, May 14th, 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark departed from Camp River Dubois in Illinois with a crew of more than three dozen men, setting out on one of the greatest feats of exploration in human history. Their mission, commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, was to chart the uncharted — to push through the vast Louisiana Purchase territory all the way to the Pacific Ocean. They had no GPS, no satellite communication, and no guarantee of return. What they had was courage, preparation, and an unshakable belief that the unknown was worth pursuing.
Over the next two and a half years, the Corps of Discovery traveled more than eight thousand miles. They mapped rivers, documented hundreds of plant and animal species, forged relationships with dozens of Native American nations, and opened the door to a continent that would become the most powerful nation in the history of the world. It was dangerous and brutal, but magnificent and unmistakably American.
Now, more than two hundred and twenty years later, that same spirit is alive and pointing upward. NASA’s Artemis II mission has captured our imaginations, sending astronauts farther from Earth than any human beings have ever traveled — around the Moon and back. Like Lewis and Clark, these astronauts are going where the maps run out. And similar to Jefferson’s Corps of Discovery, they carry with them the hopes and ambitions of an entire nation.
And what a moment to do it. This year, America celebrates her two hundred and fiftieth birthday — two and a half centuries of the same restless, refuse-to-quit spirit that Lewis and Clark embodied on the banks of the Missouri River in 1804.
From the western frontier to the moon, the American thread is unbroken. We have always believed the horizon is not a boundary. It is an invitation.
As we mark our 250th anniversary and watch our astronauts venture into deep space, let’s remember part of the spirit that makes this country worth celebrating! We are not simply about history past — we are willing to keep going.
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