Topic Battle

For those who witnessed the Apollo programme's triumphant broadcasts, the image of a suited figure bouncing across lunar regolith represents humanity's finest hour. Yet astronaut nostalgia is generationally bounded.

Creating an astronaut requires an almost absurd concatenation of improbabilities. NASA's astronaut selection process accepts roughly 0.04% of applicants. Each astronaut represents the apex of a technological pyramid requiring entire civilisations to construct.

The astronaut's biological form presents significant durability limitations. Without the protective cocoon of a spacecraft, the human body succumbs to the vacuum of space in approximately fifteen seconds of useful consciousness. Even within protective environments, astronauts contend with bone density loss of 1-2% per month.

The astronaut confronts fears that most humans carefully avoid contemplating. There is the existential terror of launch—sitting atop millions of litres of explosive propellant. Re-entry brings hypersonic velocities and temperatures exceeding 1,600 degrees Celsius.

Astronauts have transcended global reach entirely, achieving extraterrestrial reach. Twelve humans have walked upon lunar soil. The astronaut corps, however, remains an exclusive club of only forty-four nations.