Mars, in quiet rocky patience, welcomes the feet of our lander.
The red planet comes into view, an auburn haze that ignites our sense of discovery.
After our time on Mars, I believe each of us has learned how deep our love of our mother planet, our Earth, will always be.
Being on Mars was an exploration trip that moulded the entire team. Challenges make a stronger version of you, or at least that was the experience of us astronauts. We suffered a great deal, the loneliness, brutal isolation, the change in foods and loved ones so far away. We missed Earth too, all the little things - the sound of rain, the sight of its drops upon deep brown twigs. We are born of Earth after all. We are sons and daughters of her soil. As great as it was to leave, nothing is better than coming home.