When Billions Met a Ballpoint A dried-out felt-tip marker and a snapped-off piece of molded black plastic, jointly fetching $857,600 at a recent Sotheby’s auction, offer a blunt lesson in technological hubris. This isn’t Read More
The Architecture of Exclusion: Merit Versus Access The death of Wally Funk at 87, the last of the Mercury 13, isn’t just a eulogy for a remarkable woman; it’s a stark reminder that even in Read More
The Persistent Tactic of Symbolically Sanctioning Tech The 1985 space shuttle mission, which carried two 15-inch copper replicas of the Statue of Liberty into orbit, was far more than a quirky historical footnote. This seemingly benign Read More
A Monument to a Fading Model The unveiling of the space shuttle Endeavor’s permanent, upright display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles on Friday, November 13, is a moment for reflective celebration. Yet, Read More
The Unspoken Cost of Orbital Longevity The terse official statement from Roscosmos regarding the death of veteran cosmonaut Aleksandr Samokutyaev at 56 carried an unsettling silence at its core: the cause was unknown. Samokutyaev, who completed Read More
The Quiet Passing of an Era The annual induction of astronauts into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame consistently feels like a quiet nod to history, often years, if not decades, removed from the public’Read More