Because this news item appears to have been somewhat relegated to second-rate status by the mainstream newsmedia in the US, I;d like to say a word here to celebrate the brave Peggy Whitson, US astronaut, the oldest woman in space (56, by one year) who arrived at the Intl Space station about 10 hours ago as I type this.

The French media here have covered this rather extensively because of the presence of a French astronaut, Thomas Pasquet, as part of the mission.

The point was made that only the Russians have now the means to send people into space. I don’t expect this to change under trump unless SpaceX kicks into high gear.