If only we could...
Within my lifetime I would love to see the results of an interstellar probe on NASA TV...
Astronomers have spotted an Earth-sized exoplanet in orbit around Alpha Centauri B. At just 4.37 light years away, the stars of the Centaurus constellation are Earth’s nearest neighbours. That makes the discovery of an Earth-sized exoplanet rather exciting. Sadly, the planet is even closer to its star than Mercury is to Sol, …
'What do you mean you've never been to Alpha Centauri? Oh for heaven sake mankind it's only four light years away you know! I'm sorry but if you can't be bothered to take an interest in local affairs that's your own regard. Energise the demolition beams! God I don't know…apathetic bloody planet, I've no sympathy at all… '
<<Every time I've been to Alpha Centauri I get bloody probed - never enough time to check out the local council before I'm waking up in a field covered in my own vomit and urine.
Or at least that's what it tastes like...>>
You must be going to a different Alpha Centauri, every time I go, humanity has split into seven factions, I have to unite us through glorious warfare and I figure out how to use fungus to become an immortal consciousness. Then I realise it's time for breakfast, when I'd swear I'd only just looked at the clock a few minutes earlier and it said 9pm...
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"the stars of the Centaurus constellation are Earth’s nearest neighbours"
The stars of the Alpha and Proxima Centauri system are Earth's nearest neighbours, the other stars in the Centauri constellation aren't. Beta Centauri for instance is a very bright star about 350 light years away.
@Another Old Goat: "You evidently never owned a '70's vintage automobile."
Actually, I owned a 1973 Mercury Monterrey Custom 400, which died in 1997 not from rust, but from a botched engine rebuild by a local company (If you are in the Wichita area, DO NOT use United Engine Specialists!) which caused it to have no oil pressure and to seize up trying to get home from the Black Hills.
But that was when cars were made from Real Steel, of Real Thickness, with Real Paint that really protected the car - 4200 pounds dry curb weight of Yank Tank.