Did you know?  We've had humans in space now continuously for fourteen years, ever since November 2000, when the International Space Stations was first occupied.  The Atlantic has a great article about how this came to pass.

Just about every American ninth-grader has never lived a moment without astronauts soaring overhead, living in space. But chances are, most ninth-graders don’t know the name of a single active astronaut—many don’t even know that Americans are up there. We've got a permanent space colony, inaugurated a year before the setting of the iconic movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s a stunning achievement, and it’s completely ignored.

The article includes some great pictures of the ISS:

The ISS costs as much to run as a carrier battle group.  In the long run, it's a most worthwhile investment.  In 200 years, who will care about a carrier battle group (or even know what they were?)  But space stations might be our lifeline to the universe.