So are we under Soviet domination yet?

[jeriendhal]

james_nicoll would like to remind us that forty-nine years ago today Yuri Gagarin circled the earth.

Twenty years after that, the Space Shuttle Columbia first flew.

This year the remaining Shuttle fleet going to retire, having flown nines years longer than the time between Gagarin's launch and its maiden flight.

This probably means something profound, but I have no idea what.