Wednesday’s announcement of the discovery of seven planets that might sustain life, founding orbiting a dwarf star, should give a boost to interest in space exploration.

Astronomers say the planets, each about the size of our Earth, could be at the right temperature to sustain oceans of water. And they are about 40 light-years away, which sounds far but is close enough to allow study.

Scientists heralded it for its potential to help determine if there is life out there.

It comes on the heels of Sunday’s successful launch of a SpaceX rocket, which sent into space a payload bound for the International Space Station. The first stage of the rocket safely returned to the launch pad in Florida, the same Kennedy Space Center pad from which Apollo astronauts bound for the moon left in the 1960s and 1970s. Watching the booster return and touch down on the launch pad may have been even more interesting than the launch.

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