The last mission of America’s space shuttle is planned to launch in a few days. As you rightly say in your main leader, outer space is history now (“The End of the Space Age,” July 2, 2011). In future history books, you add, this year is likely to be remembered for the demise of space cadets’ dream. Although you duly mark the fateful year, you do not spell out the repercussions of this catastrophe. We are facing deadly global warming. Soon we will face the beginning of the upcoming glaciation. Inter-glacial periods usually last about ten-thousand years, and we are coming to the end of the one that propelled the human species into the limelight. Glaciation periods usually last around a hundred-thousand years. And that is at least how long the species will have to wait for the next opportunity to colonize the outer space. In the meanwhile, the human population will dwindle to a small fraction of its size today. As well as its punch. Space colonization could have provided a new flowering and eventual differentiation of our civilization. With significant sacrifices, the technology could have been mastered in the period of rapid growth and development following World War II. The opportunity has been missed, though. Due both to human interference and natural causes, climate change makes it unimaginable in the near future. Our hope now rests with space cadets who will sprout a hundred-thousand years from now.