The botched-up launch of the Antares rocket contracted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration several days ago has much to teach us about vaunted technology. Heading for the International Space Station, it exploded while taking off. Nobody was hurt, but this is not the first botch-up for NASA. In spite of so much enthusiastic talk about technological advances on all fronts, something as basic as the vehicle that takes people and their luggage to orbit is not working. True, the Russian Proton rocket is in good shape after many decades of step-by-step development, and it provides a good example of how to go about it by comparison with American bluster, but it is still a tiny step toward connecting the earth and space. Any serious venture out there, such as space colonization, would require much more powerful vehicles, as well as many more of them. The key lesson to learn from the Antares disaster is that humans will have missed the last chance to leave earth before the ravages of climate change and the upcoming glaciation period. The window is closing shut right in front of our eyes. It will open again in more than a hundred-thousand years, if ever. Antares, Schmantares. But it is high time to take technology with a chunky grain of salt. At this stage of their development, humans are not capable of much more than bringing life on their own planet to its heels. Everything else is for the birds.

Addendum (November 2, 2014)

As if to prove me right, yet another disaster betook the commercial space venture. And it took place on the very day this piece was written. In particular, the Virgin Galactic rocket ship crashed killing one person and injuring another. Richard Branson, the tycoon behind the venture, is as optimistic as ever, but the two mishaps are prompting questions in the business community about the future of the commercial space industry. As for me, there are no questions, though. Only answers. Disaster management is the only challenge that remains. And the likes of Branson had better learn it fast. At this stage of human development, space is but a pipedream.