How many astronauts started out as kids who loved space? We're guessing a whole bunch, and that's been confirmed by a gorgeous little episode on TikTok this week.
Creator Meg (@macacochiquito0) shared a video of her six-year-old brother, showing her crying with him and describing how he wanted to throw out all of his space-related clothing because other kids were calling them stupid.
The clip went viral and sparked a whole heap of responses from accounts across the world of space, both real and otherwise.
One comment from the California Science Centre read: "Space is awesome, and so are YOU, young scientist! Proudly wear those space shirts - we know a future astronaut when we see one!"
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Another came from the official Star Wars account, to confirm: "Space rules. Don’t let anyone tell you differently."
The real cherry on top, though, came in the form of a touching video from real-life NASA astronaut José Hernandez.
Meg stitched the video into a duet that you can watch to see her brother reacting to the lovely message from Hernandez, and it's really cute.
Hernandez said that he too was discouraged by people when he was younger, but that if he'd listened to them he "would've never been able to wear this flight suit and go up into space".
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Moreover, he described how long it took him to achieve his dreams: "It took me 12 attempts and NASA rejected me 11 times, but I never gave up".
He ended by encouraging Meg's brother to keep wearing his fun space clothes, and said "You should be proud of them, and hopefully, if you study hard, I'll see you working at NASA with me."
That's incredibly sweet, and it's attracted lots of warmth in the comments section, including one response with over 65,000 likes of its own: "Now he can tell the bullies that he's friends with a real astronaut."
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Another couldn't hold back: "RESTORING MY FAITH IN HUMANITY."
It's a heartwarming story, and if Meg's brother does want to become an astronaut, he's definitely got encouragement now.
The tests that NASA puts its applicants through are famously rigorous, and you need an interesting mixture of high-level smarts, academic prowess and physical fitness to make the grade for an actual mission into space.
You can see the touching TikTok post here.