Death of the Astronaut

The state of the US of A's manned space program: Dead, by suicide. Prodded on by Repuglicans. Why? It's an easy budget item to ax, all sciency and shit. It also helps humanity in general, rather than the Confederacy directly, so, gotta go!

Granted, robots are better than humans in space in a whole slate of categories. Most, actually. But there is an inspirational effect that man in space achieves that could never be replicated by a robot. The USA - in Cold War Fever - set the bar for this effect, when Neil Armstrong stepped off a ladder with the words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Alas! It was not true, Neil, despite your noble intentions.

All photos by Neil DaCosta. Brilliant series.

I'm not sure Americans will get back into space in a large way, government backed. Maybe private shuttle services, astro-truckers, essentially. Lets root for the Chinese in their needful pride to send folks back to the Moon and beyond. Go China!