Rant #2,697: Space Race

With all these billionaires going up into space, where does that leave us common folk in the space race as we just passed the 52nd anniversary of the first Apollo voyage to the moon in 1969?
 
Nowhere, of course.
 
You got a couple of million dollars to spend on a 10-minute space experience?
 
I certainly don’t, and I don’t know anyone that does.
 
So while we talk about money gaps here on earth, that chatter has now spread to outer space.
 
Will common people like you and I ever get a chance to hop on a vessel and go into the cosmos?
 
We have been told that after the initial voyages, the price will come down, way down, so that more people can avail themselves of this experience, but what exactly does “way down” mean related to going into space?
 
From several million to maybe a single million dollars?
 
Who among us can afford that price?
 
Heck, with the price of consumer goods going up across the board, and with most of us forced to scrutinize the price of everything we purchase—from food to gas to even a ticket to a concert or sporting event—how will any of us be able to go up into space?
 
Certainly this won’t happen during my lifetime, even if I live to be 100 years old.
 
That would be in 2057, and I wonder if even by then, space voyages will cost what a nicely priced first class airplane ticket costs.
 
And who wants to go on airplanes right now to travel, with all the violence we have seen happening during many of these flights?
 
Yesterday, some so-called experts—yes, they call themselves “experts”—claim that the rigors we have been through with the coronavirus, coupled with excessive alcohol use on airplanes, has created situations where some passengers really can’t cope with being cooped up and told to wear their masks, so they go crazy.
 
The coronavirus, alcohol and masks … remember that at the very beginning of the pandemic, liquor stores were considered to be essential businesses, and were permitted to continue operations, along with tattoo parlors.
 
I guess people cope better when they drink and get their body marked up.
 
And talking about bodies, we have the latest parade of supposedly well-known women who feel the need to show off what God gave them—or what their personal gods, plastic surgeons, gave them—to the world.
 
Yes, Elizabeth Hurley is one of these women, completely talentless ladies who feel they have "talent" because they have great bodies, and in their ego-driven haze, they feel the need to show off what they have at the drop of a hat.
 
In today’s Yahoo News feed—which is thought to be the authoritative news source by so many so-called “experts”—we have Mia Thorton of the "Real Housewives of Potomac"--whatever that is—who “Stuns Us With Sexy Topless Photo.”
 
We also have Miley Cyrus, the ultra-talented singer/actress, who “Just Wore a Very NSFW T-Shirt As a Dress.”
 
And we have another wannabe of some note, ancient 51-year old model Heather Graham, who “Wears a Cheetah Print Bikini While Vacationing in Italy.”
 
There are others—don’t get me started About Halle Berry wearing platform boots in her bathtub--but I think I am going to stop it right here.
 
Sure, these postings are pure click-bait, but they keep on coming from women who tell you not to look at them as sex objects, but want you to look anyway.
 
Go figure.
 
And as this stream of consciousness Rant continues, men are not out of the woods on such self promotion either.
 
Look at Dax Shepherd, who proudly proclaims, “It Makes Me Far More On Firs To Be Alive” as he defends his need to take testosterone.
 
So all of this leads us back to the beginning of this particular Rant, where I asked, “Where does that leave us common folk in the space race?”
 
It all leaves us right where we are, totally grounded, but I guess we always have people like Miley Cyrus and Dax Shepherd to keep us grounded with their completely ego-driven posts showing off their womanhood and manhood, respectively. 

(Editor's Note: In today's world, I am forced to put the word "respectively" in that sentence, because you never can tell nowadays, and I certainly don't want to offend anyone.)
 
With the choice of going up in space, going on an airplane, or seeing these peoples’ bodies in every state of dress and undress possible, I mean, where would you rather be, up in the air or standing on solid ground?
 
I will leave it up to you to make your own decision on that one.