Astro-squirrels: the future of space exploration

While the debate rages on about whether man should return to interplanetary travel and what role NASA should play in the United States' future space exploration it is good to know that alternatives are being considered. (Incidentally, at the GNU Public Dictatorship we are nothing if not committed to space travel and won't be resting until we have perfected warp drive, but we understand that conventional governments are not particularly good at innovation and so we don't fault them for that). Today's innovation comes not from the private sector as many experts were expecting, but from the animal kingdom. Jane Roberts has been experimenting with preparing astro-squirrels for space flight for quite some time now, and she is about ready to let them man their first rocket. The rocket was built especially for them and has tiny nut-shaped controllers. We are unsure how Miss Roberts will understand their transmissions from space, but we are confident that she will find a way.