For those who have not already read Ursula K Le Guin’s 1976 essay Space Crone, it is the perfect antidote to this weird Charlie’s Angels-in-space exploit (So Katy Perry went to space. Wasn’t there anyone else we could have sent?, 14 April).
Le Guin rightly suggests that it is an apparently unremarkable postmenopausal woman who is the ideal candidate to represent humanity on a space mission. The “crone” has a depth of experience of being human that no young, fit, looks-great-in-Lycra man or woman can match.