VOICE: This is Astra, a spec of stardust. Astra’s been drifting around space for about 13 billion years, pulled this way by gravity, shoved that way by cosmic rays, and bounced around by huge explosions of stars called novas and supernovas. About 3 billion years ago, Astra visited our solar system, saw the earth, and thought it might be a good place to settle down, but a huge solar flare pushed Astra away before she could be pulled in by earth’s gravity. Astra didn’t have a chance. The force of the flare sent Astra past earth, past all the newish planets, beyond our solar system, and into the milky way. Astra flew beyond our solar system to see the universe. Huge spiral galaxies, giant blue stars, black holes, and hundreds of thousands of planets, but none of them seemed so beautiful and like home as earth did to Astra. And then one day Astra caught a ride in the tail of a comet, and there it was, earth.

VOICE: Rocks have eroded to help form soil. Water has condensed. The air has just the right amount of oxygen and plants and animals were everywhere and they are all related in some way to Astra because we are all stardust. Welcome home Astra.