Astronut

Okay, I admit it, this is a cheap shot, but I'm unrepentant. I had no thought of doing a cartoon about the latest NASA foray into the headlines, but then NASA declared itself disturbed by all the jokes people were making at their expense and my comedic bells started to ring. I just had to get into the action. And after all, nobody got hurt. I mean, it's not like two-bit O-rings bringing down a billion dollar mission, or pieces of shuttles falling off on lift-off because of cheap glue. (When Alan Shepherd was asked how he felt before becoming the first American to hurtle into near space, he said, "How would you feel sitting on top of a rocket comprised of a hundred thousand parts all made by the lowest bidder?", but nowadays Halliburton gets the contract and we taxpayers get to shell out big bucks.) What happened in Florida the other day wasn't a tragedy. It had all the makings of a really bad French farce, complete with a cheap disguise, mace, rubber hose, BB gun, and a new mallet. Bit by bit NASA's carefully nurtured image of heroism and perfection has come unravelled and over the years we've gotten glimpses of the bunglers and misfits that make them just like our neighbors. I'll never forget the faces of those first seven astronauts on the cover of Life magazine. As Mel Brooks said in one of his routines with Carl Reiner, "those aren't men, they're models."