Come on people, get a pair!! (NASA)

It amazes me how everyone whines and cries about how space exploration is too dangerous. We lose a few astronauts and we're talking about pulling the plug. Good grief, what kind of coddled sissies are we becoming?
How many people died just to settle the west?
How many people died reaching the poles?
How many people die mining coal?
How many people die driving to work?

Life is dangerous, get over it.

No one has any business whining about the risk of life to astronauts until they raise as much stink about the lives wasted every day in Iraq. And we'll sure get a lot more return on the investment of those lives from space exploration than we ever will from Iraq. And those lives are at least as valuable.
You OWE your soldiers more. They choose to do a job where they know they could be asked to die. Why are they worth less to you than astronauts, or coal miners, or someone's damn dog down a well?
I mean hell, we'll spend thousands to rescue some damn horse that's fallen through the ice, or a kitten in a well pipe, but what do we do for our troops? Buy some damn fool yellow ribbon magnet and slap it on our car?
Well, aren't we great.
Be ashamed.