An Olympic Omen?

Last night I watched the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics. Canada put on an excellent show, but one thing that was sadly absent from the "Made in Canada" segment were the Canadarm and Canadarm2 robotic arms. They may not be stereotypically Canadian, but they are quite awesome.

However, there was one part of the Russian preview that I found intriguing. In one scene, they showed a cosmonaut throwing Sputnik off into the void. Soon afterward, they showed a ballerina on a snowboard floating towards the Moon. Coincidence, or an abstract indication of future space plans?

Remember, Roskosmos is already working on a lunar tourism program. They expect that sometime within the next few years they will be sending a pair of tourists and a cosmonaut pilot around the moon, for a cost of $100 million per tourist. Who knows, in another decade, while we are still pulling our space program together, they may be returning to the surface of the Moon.

We defeated Russia once in space. If our mercurial planning (no pun intended, or even applicable) and halfhearted budgetary support continue, we might not even be a contender the second time around.