Here in Sweden, Christer Fuglesang recently gained lots of publicity for being the first Swedish guy in space. Right now Charles Simonyi is getting almost as much publicity over here for becoming the fifth space tourist.
I love it that young people have some other people to hear about instead of just the participants in Big Brother and other such reality soaps. People to look up to who say that science is fun and important, people who say that learning is fun and important. (That's not exactly the message coming from the average reality soap, right?)
Perhaps I find this important because I have kids myself who I'd like to get into the idea of eternal learning. Or perhaps I simply believe that learning is a VERY important part of our jobs as software developers. Anyway, thanks Christer and Charles for emphasising the fact! Who's going to be next?