Tom Wolfe just kills me. In the Sunday New York Times, he has done :

One Giant Leap to Nowhere

Why the American Space Program died in 1969. For 40 years, nobody has talked about that like this:

At last, in February 1962, NASA managed to get a man into Earth orbit, John Glenn. You had to have been alive at that time to comprehend the reaction of the nation, practically all of it. He was up for only five hours, compared to Titov’s 25, but he was our … Protector! Against all odds he had risked his very hide for … us! — protected us from our mortal enemy! — struck back in the duel in the heavens! — showed the world that we Americans were born fighting and would never give up! John Glenn made us whole again!