All this talk of superheroes, Flash Gordon and saving the world is a timely reminder (ahem) of the vast unexplored space surrounding us and what we've done as a race to explore it: 40 years ago today Gordo flew higher than any other; I refer of course to Gordo the monkey who "was not the first animal to have ventured into space, but he is the first primate to have flown so high." I'm sure there are more than a few parallels to be drawn with modern politics: at the time no other Gordo had flown so high but then sunk so low...without a trace in fact.