InstaJelgava: #ThePastureofTheFourthHorseman #Jelgava, #Latvia. A mural made of tiled stones depicts the rise of nuclear weapons over a 40 year span beginning, on the right, with calvary and ending with full-scale intercontinental ballistic missiles. The mural is situated on this inside of the perimeter wall in the now defunct military town referred to in disarmament treaties as “Jelgava South.” The town is attached to an elaborate series of bunkers which once housed mobile #nuclear #missile #launchers carrying warheads aimed at European targets. The upright rocket depicted in the very middle of the mural is a German #V2, the world’s first long-range guided missile developed by the Nazis during World War II. It is significant not only because it is the first of its kind but, also, because the Germans who designed were later involved with the formation of #NASA. Their continued work would eventually help propel man into space. The V2’s use as a instrument of war is estimated to have resulted in 9,000 deaths during rocket attacks and cost the lives of an estimated 12,000 prisoners whose labor was used in their manufacture. For me, one of the darkly fascinating aspects of our absurd compulsion to refine these tools of the armageddon is the side-effect that it had on space exploration. The only difference between the Moscow-bound intercontinental ballistic missile sitting in a hole in Wyoming and the rocket that took John Glenn into man’s first orbit is the choice of instrument that was situated at the very top of the rocket. Space capsule or warhead, everything else underneath is the same. Without our profound desire to obliterate the Soviets, there is no Neil Armstrong, there were no footprints on the moon, and Buzz Aldrin most certainly never danced his space-loving feet on live television. Because we lack the courage to imagine the straightest line to our dreams, we have had to detour through the outskirts total global destruction to get to a point where our telephones can geolocate our position and tell us the fastest way to the nearest Starbucks from any corner of the globe. Swimming among those absurdities is certainly a peculiar exercise. by mattslaby