Race, space, and the space race, or, exciting rockets

This editorial afterword to the special issue ‘Cosmic Imperatives: Critical Thinking Beyond the Earthbound’ will offer some polemical reflections inspired by the preceding papers and the recent resurgence of debates on structural racism globally. What happens to critical race theory when it leaves the earth? It develops a deliberately divergent view from that of the coeditor. I will argue there is a collective desire implied in the space race that is structurally masculine, and from some recent instances of space travel in the news sketch some initial thoughts for thinking through how this racializes space travel.