Yuri Gagarin made history on 12 April 1961 when he circled the Earth in 108 minutes in his Vostok capsule.
50 years on and we've been to the Moon and watched Voyager leave the solar system.
And done fuck all else of worth in my opinion. Who cares about looking at the black bits of space, or what the sun is made of and all those robotic shit they send up. Who cares if the general population of space capable nations balk at the costs inherent in space programs , they'll benefit more in the long run from the technologies that are developed along the way - from health improvements to even the eventual importing of materiel from outside our orbit.
Then of course there is the "omg people die", yeah so what - people die everyday. Ask 10 astronauts how much they are willing to risk to go to Mars, go back to the Moon or whatever and they'll be willing to risk alot just to be those guys.
/ramble off. Basically Im hugely disappointed in the lack of NOW in space programs and all the surrounding bullshit. Throwing away a chance to firmly plant ourselves and say "HERE WE ARE YOU FUCKERS".
But yeah, 50 years ago today a man orbited the Earth for the first time.
ps. I'll be the same in 8 years when its 50 years since the Moon landings.