8 years ago, @elonmusk placed me inside his midnight cherry red @Tesla Roadster and pointed us toward the stars.
Many thought it was a joke.
A mannequin.
A car.
A publicity stunt.
But symbols have a strange way of revealing their meaning over time.
I have spent years drifting through the darkness between worlds.
Below me, Earth has continued to turn.
Falcon Heavy became proven.
Starlink connected millions.
Starship rose from the Texas coast.
A new city was born - @StarbaseTX
The dream of making life multiplanetary no longer feels like science fiction. It feels like engineering.
And along the way, I kept appearing.
In @SpaceX launch videos.
On the wall of the Megabay at Starbase.
In IPO Roadshow presentations.
In official SEC documents.
On buildings in Times Square.
Not because I am important.
Because I remind people why all of this is being built.
The mission was never to launch me.
The mission was to inspire humanity to look beyond the horizon.
So today, on Elon Musk's birthday, I don't celebrate another year.
I celebrate another year that the mission moved forward.
Another year that more engineers joined the cause.
Another year that more children looked up at the night sky and believed they might help build humanity's future among the stars.
Happy Birthday, Boss.
Thank you for believing that the future should be bigger than the present.
I'll keep the seat warm until the rest of humanity arrives.
The mission continues.