Being first is no guarantee that you'll still be around at the finish line.

While the U.S. is apparently giving up on returning to the moon any time soon, India is planning to send its first astronaut into orbit in 2016, while China is talking about doing it next year.

In the abstract, I don't give a damn who gets a critical mass of human beings ( Read more... )

"One small step ..."
Pondering Apollo 11, 40 years later

Magicians and astronauts

Some time in 1969 or 1970 - I was about five years old - my maternal grandparents paid a visit to our small 2-floor apartment, where we lived above my aunt and uncle and three cousins.

Naturally (I was only five after all!), I don't remember a great deal about that ( Read more... )