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When I was a child, I went to Space Camp with my father. There, I watched an IMAX film about the Shuttle Program called “The Dream is Alive”. Since then, I watched the Shuttle, the Blackbird and the Concorde stop flying. My dream of high speed, high altitude flight was waning.

On December 21, 2015, a year ago today, this chunk of aluminium fell from space, roared through its own rocket exhaust and touched down softly back on Earth. When I heard those words, “The Falcon has landed”, it gave me a much needed reminder that the dream is still alive.

Even 365 days later, I stagger to find words to describe the event. People have called it “the Apollo 11 of today”. In my former account of the moment, I welcomed a “new era of spaceflight”. (Read that by clicking here.)

A year after seeing her fly with my own two eyes, I went to visit my old friend. Falcon 9 serial number 21 stands proudly in front of SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne, California, on the same plot of land that gave rise to the early Northrop flying wings. Her white paint is festooned with a beautiful patina of burned kerosene, earned during that historic landing.

This rocket represents a stepping stone in humanity’s journey to Mars. Why push for this? Humans are hard wired to push the envelope. The same instinct that leads a young child to climb dangerously up a piece of furniture drives us in adulthood to travel down the unbeaten path and push over the next horizon. This monument stands as a clear reminder to those who may have forgotten the dream. We will keep pushing. We will keep flying. Why? Because we have to. The dream is alive.