The future of manned spaceflight, it's not. We hope. Ever since the Space Shuttle took its last flight earlier this summer
, the US has had no real plan for getting humans back up in space in the near future. Meanwhile, NASA is sending three LEGO figurines to Jupiter tomorrow
, as part of a sponsorship deal with LEGO "to inspire children to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics." Because flying little aluminum Jupiter
, Juno
, and Galileo
more than 1,700 million miles is a great way to demonstrate to future scientists the importance of funding! The figurines of the god, goddess, and seventeenth-century astronomer aren't part of any of the scientific experiments also making the journey on NASA's Juno probe
. But, the press release
is quick to note, "Of course, the miniature Galileo has his telescope with him on the journey." Too bad he has no eyes. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/KSC
