What Happened in 2021

When some year winds down, you actually want to look back and see what happened. That may not be the case for 2021, as it probably was not for 2020 either. 

These have been unique years. The proverb, "You should live in interesting times" sounds pleasant enough but is apparently a curse, and I think we know why now. While large parts of the society could get back to normal for months at a time, routines were under threat of being, or actually were, interrupted with frequency. Simple tasks seemed to take on a bit more effort, and all the while our political and media talking heads latched on to any and all abrasive content in an effort to get a few more nanoseconds of our attention. 

If after all that you want to know what happened in 2021, here's a short-list of items. No judgements here, just some events that registered for me personally, and perhaps for others too. What do you think?

• January:  Joe Biden became 46th President of the USA. After all said and done -- and there was plenty said and much done -- the United States inaugurated a new president and the transition of power occurred, even if it wasn't always smooth.   
• February: After 7 months of travel, NASA's Mars 2020 mission lands on Mars. This is the first of may "space firsts" that took place this year. 
• March:  One of the largest container ships in the world runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal for 6 days. Maybe that was the beginning of the "supply chain issues?"
• April: SpaceX launches the Crew-2 mission, carrying four crew members of Expedition 65 and 66 to the International Space Station aboard Crew Dragon Endeavour
• May: As if there is no better way to herald in the summer, fighting breaks out between Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and Israel.    
• June: Anydate establishes the inaugural Space Exploration Month which begins in June on the summer solstice and ends on anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in July! 
• July: The 2020 Summer Olympics were held in Tokyo, Japan. They were originally scheduled for 24 July–9 August 2020, but were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• August: The United States withdraws its last remaining troops from Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, ending 20 years of operations in Afghanistan.
• September:  Inspiration4 launched by SpaceX becomes the first all-civilian spaceflight, carrying a four-person crew on a three-day orbit of the Earth. Space tourism begins...for a few.
• October: We planned and successfully executed a short trip to Holland to visit family! First time since the pandemic! Was awesome! 
• November:  NASA launches the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the first attempt to deflect an asteroid for the purpose of learning how to protect Earth. By the way, did you see "Don't Look Up?" Its worth it!  
• December:  The meme above arrives in my social media. I think - wow, I have to share that!