Prescience

Once again, a news story:

The Voyager-1 spacecraft has become the first manmade object to leave the Solar System.

brings to mind an old XKCD comic (from earlier this year):

Golden Spike and the Private Space Industry

As a follow-up to my post from a couple of days ago, I thought I'd comment on the announcement by the Golden Spike company to land on the moon by the end of the decade.  In a more general sense, there's the question of commercial space travel; I'd somehow missed the news that the SpaceX company successfully delivered cargo to the ISS earlier this year.

Armstrong in Hospital

Neil Armstrong has just had heart surgery.  The reports suggest that he's recovering well, and cutting into your heart is almost routine these days.  But I couldn't help but be reminded of this old XKCD comic.