95 Worlds

My Day on Titan I feel extremely lucky to be one of the first humans to ever get to visit Saturn’s moon, Titan. Earlier this morning, our spaceship passed through the dense atmosphere that surrounds the entire planet. The other “tourists” and I were becoming nervous because we couldn’t see anything through the fog. We were required to wear spacesuits to protect us from the methane and ethane gases (and the colder temperature), but I was still worried something should happen that they wouldn’t be enough protection. However, all of my fears vanished when I stepped off the spaceship; it’s amazing how similar Titan looks to Earth! There were sand dunes, shorelines, and I could see mountains in the distance. It was also sunny and there was a pleasant breeze and clouds in the sky (I wonder if that was what made it so difficult to see as we were landing..). The first thing I decided to do was jet-ski and swim in the nearest body of water. It looked like a regular ocean, but we needed to continue to wear our spacesuits; there was a chance that there might be liquid methane in the water. I felt so light-weight that I was able to jump out of the water extremely easily. After a quick lunch back on the spaceship, I decided to spend the afternoon hiking to the top of a smaller mountain and catching a hot air balloon ride down. The hike up was a bit difficult because of Titan’s rocky terrain, but it didn’t take long. We were able to have the balloon because of the winds that blow on Titan that are much like those on Earth. Unfortunately, it began to rain shortly after I reached the bottom of the mountain in the balloon. The other tourists and I were disappointed to have our day cut short, but felt extremely excited to tell everyone back on Earth about our vacation on another planet!