I get a lot of inspiration from my sons. No matter how fast and far they fling themselves into the space of their lives, they crave being back here on Earth with family and home. So, for Father’s Day, I take these two space-age adventurers on a ride with their grand- and great-grandfathers.
The story begins, I tell them, with an old, hardboiled detective named Cassini who was paid handsomely to find one of history’s greatest and most elusive works of art. After years of searching, Cassini found it. Like a great riddle, it was in the middle of nowhere — and everywhere — 800,000 miles from Earth. But, so massive and so far away, Cassini couldn’t bring it back home. He could only take photos and send them back to his client. And when people saw the images…well, as Carl Sagan said, “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
My two sons, like their mother, always know the kicker ending of this story. Which is — as Einstein figured — my dad and Meyer knew about Cassini, too. They were just waiting for us and this moment…to get there together.
CASSINI MISSION from Chris Abbas on Vimeo. Music Track: 2 Ghosts I, Ghosts I – IV by Nine Inch Nails. Designer and director, Chris Abbas. Film made possible by NASA’s Cassini Imaging Science System.
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