A few weeks ago, Washington Post posted a long picture-filled article about the current and future operations of the International Space Station. The reader gets to know about the project’s challenges, triumphs, and hazards, and about a near-drowning accident (yes, it is possible drown in space). Link >>>
Anyhow, the ISS is an essential workshop for developing technology and acquiring know-how for manned missions to other parts of the solar system. The astronautical heroism of my youth has been replaced by more mundane toils on an permanent basis. I am however convinced that investments in it will pay off in ten or twenty years when the first manned spacecraft set out for the asteroid belt or Mars.