Which I suppose is the ultimate demonstration of walking and chewing gum at the same time.
A SpaceX spacecraft carrying two NASA astronauts soared into outer space Saturday — marking the first time humans have traveled into Earth’s orbit from US soil in nearly a decade. … The launch also marked the first time in history that a commercial aerospace company has carried humans into Earth’s orbit.
(CNN, May 30, 2020)
The astronauts are expected to spend one to three months at the International Space Station. But they launched in the midst of this national mayhem:
A day of widespread protests devolved into a night of fire and fury across the nation as tensions boiled over in dozens of American cities. Police cars and government buildings were set aflame, windows were shattered, stores were ransacked, monuments were vandalized and authorities in riot gear fired pepper pellets, tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators who had amassed to protest the death of a black man in police custody.
Curfews were enacted in more than two dozen cities and the National Guard was summoned in at least 12 states and the District of Columbia as officials pleaded for peace.
(The Washington Post, May 31, 2020)
Indeed, given blanket media coverage of the rioting, looting, and burning, you’d be forgiven for having no clue about America’s return to space. But it deserves acknowledgment – if only for the juxtaposition this poses:
- America has been relying on Russia to launch Americans into space for the past nine years. But, even though Russia was not involved in the launch, its cyber fingerprints were all over the rioting, looting, and burning in America yesterday.
In other words, the Americans who were complaining about Russians launching cyberattacks to disrupt their elections were at the same time paying those same Russians billions to launch Americans into space.
In “Killing George Floyd…” on May 26, I decried the useful idiots on social media who got duped by Russian, Chinese, and other trolls into destroying their own neighborhoods in the name of racial justice. In a similar vein, I now decry the useful idiots in the US government who forfeited space flight to rely on Russia in the first place.
Alas, both reflect endemic American idiocy, which most foreigners know all too well. But, truth be told, neither warrants any further comment in this context.
Related commentaries:
Killing George Floyd…
Rioting, looting, burning…