I feel a profound sense of sadness that the days of real space exploration are out of the reach of my lifespan

While many would tell you we live in an utterly exciting age, that mostly holds true if your sense of wonder derives from the microchip. But even the fastest computer, or even quantum computer won't excite me the way a single still photo of an exo-planet would. I've seen this stated before about our generation; "born too late to explore the earth, too early to explore the stars". I know there's still the potential we find some form of life within our solar system in the next 50 years, but I have to temper my hopes with the reality that we may not find anything. The real journey begins the day man  enters the first solar system that isn't ours, and I regret that I won't be alive to see it. :- Say Obama The American President