Krikey!! With great reach comes great risk

By now you've heard of the untimely death of Steve Irwin the famous "Croc Hunter." Any headline that has the word "surprise" in it is a bit mistaken. When you live a life of great adventure you accept the risks that go along with it. He knew what he was getting in to and while tragic, I have no doubt that he was loving every minute of life until the very last one - something VERY few of us can say. Risk is just part of the game.

This (of course) brings us to astronauts. Risk is unavoidable in space exploration. Especially at this point in our history. One cannot expect our expansion into the cosmos to happen without loss. Public oversight has forced many space agencies to be conservative in their approach - yet some of the greatest leaps have come from the boldest steps. (Mike Melvill comes to mind) Perhaps there is something to be learned from the Ol' Croc hunter even in death.