In case you've been living under a rock the past couple of years, Humans of New York (HONY) is a viral Facebook page run by photographer Brandon Stanton, which features images of regular people on the streets of New York – and sometimes further afield – and shares their stories.
A few days ago, one of those profiled was the son of a reporter, who told Humans of New York that: "I want to be a reporter too … I'd probably write a story about if NASA was going to launch a new rocket into space." And further proving that the Internet can be a magical place, NASA responded to let him know that they are launching a new rocket into space. Congrats budding journalist, you just got your first story.
NASA's comment has since garnered more than 70,000 likes and 1,400 replies, including plenty along the lines of "You just made everyone's day, NASA".
NASA's response was pretty swift and adorable:
"We *are* going to launch a new rocket into space! We're developing NASA's Space Launch System to be the world's most powerful rocket and launch NASA's Orion Spacecraft into deep space, first to lunar orbits then eventually farther on the journey to Mars."
For ScienceAlert followers, it's no big secret that NASA is working on their Space Launch System (SLS) in order to blast the Orion Spacecraft all the way to Mars. It's part of the three-step plan the US space agency released last month detailing our journey to the red planet.
NASA has also announced that it'll start recruiting the astronauts for those missions in December, which is equally exciting. In fact, we still have to pinch ourselves that as a species, we're really, truly going to Mars. And hopefully this young boy will be just as inspired.
It's not the first time that Stanton and HONY has helped young people achieve their dreams. After meeting 13-year-old Vidal Chastanet and hearing about his inspirational principal, Stanton raised more than $1.5 million for Vidal's underprivileged school. The money will be used to send students to Harvard University.
But as far as we know, this is the first time the US space agency has gotten involved and responded to the Facebook page, and we have to say it was pretty perfect. Good job, NASA, you've restored our faith in the world for another day.