Why Nepal must dare to dream of space

Our connection to space is real. It exists. What we need now is a national decision to take it seriously.

It was April 25, 2015, the day a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal. I was asking my father to check my homework when the bookshelves toppled. A falling vase cut my sister’s hand. For weeks, countless Nepalis, including my family, slept on the open ground because we did not trust the walls around and the floor underneath us. The vast open sky was the only thing I considered safe. Lying there one night, I remember feeling, “You are so small.”