Flights of Imagination

Flight, the air element — a dream and a goal that has hypnotized humans for thousands of years. Earthly gravity — a harsh reality that opposes this dream and which nature inevitably takes into account. Evolution approached flight rationally: if flying is necessary for the preservation of the species, the means to do so will surely appear, even if it takes millions of years. Humans, in turn, have invented numerous ways to ascend into the air and travel great distances: from the wings of the mythological Icarus to the airplane, a long journey has been made thanks to the fact that throughout all times there have been people capable of soaring high in their imagination, even while remaining on the ground. It is they who accumulate knowledge, discover new things, and lead others: “Perhaps the same drive for adventure that gripped the Polynesians as they discovered new islands lives on today in that «call of the cosmos» that urges members of our species to colonize Mars — and, perhaps, in the distant future, to reach the stars?”