>>427250039When this comic first got posted on xkcd I laughed a lot, it was stupid, I got that it was just really dark humor, but since it's started to really get to me.
The mars rover wanting to come home isn't what makes me sad, but that this sort of happened. Famously Laika was the first dog sent out into space, and at first glance it's just a scientific feat, but if you look into it, they never had any plans on bringing Laika back.
Laika had been a stray before they sent her into space. She did not have a family. The researchers were the first people to take her in. For the first time in that dog's life she was surrounded by people, she didn't have to fend for herself at all.
Then they sent her out into space. She was stuck in a small box of metal, now not only alone again, but more alone than she'd ever been before. Laika died, floating far above the only family she had ever had, wondering where she was and where her new family was.
I don't know, maybe it's just me, but just thinking about that depresses the shit out of me.
