Starship Asterisk*

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080316.html

As I look back to our ancestors, I am grateful for their spirited dream. Who guessed that their violent and explosive venture would take such a turn? As I look back on my home, my star bound adventure begins… I am so very thankful to live in this time so far from the brutal displacement of molecules, privileged to explore the mysteries of the cosmos first hand. Yes, I am grateful for the spirited dream… it lives on.

I can't help but think, as I admire the Endeavour to Orbit image... it looks a lot like how I envision synapse activity in our brains. We get a charge from something like this image and a brain cell [or cells] goes to work... sending stimulated energy "up" to other brain cells that begin to accumulate more and more related data until a response is expressed through emotion or physically rendered effort. Kind of like how Asterisk and ISS are formulated.

Pretty good background picture also.
Orin