RE: Have we been too dogmatic about keeping astronauts alive?

Except that the cost of lifting a pound of weight into earth orbit is out of the reach of most people.
And you need at least 100x that for most elderly people.

All of those hip surgeries pale in comparison to the cost of this.
And we still do not know the environmental costs of sending up a rocket.

Of course, The US has flying saucer technology, so maybe we could use those.
Unfortunately, they are also hiding the true shape of the earth, so they may not be willing to lend us one.