Granite Geek readers, I think it’s fair to say, are interested in space travel and in quantifying stuff, such as the environmental impacts of various practices … so we should be interested in this Green Lantern post on Slate, which ponders whether space travel (shuttle, rocket launches, etc.) is worse for the environment than airplane travel.

The conclusion: There are too few rocket launches to make any significant difference to ozone depletion or global-warming gases, but there isn’t enough information about what’s exactly in the fumes released by various rocket fuels to determine the overall effect of microscopic particles.

So I guess if I win a flight to the ISS, I can take it and not feel guilty.