Many millennia before anyone looked through a telescope or traveled by rocket into outer space, our ancestors looked up at the night sky with fascination, awe and a deep desire to know more. The first astronauts tracked the movements of stars and planets and found ways to incorporate them practically and symbolically into their daily lives. People used this intricate knowledge of celestial objects and events to tell time and navigate, but they also used stars and planets to tell stories, build societies and, most notably, understand their own human relationship with the universe around them .