Phanerozoic Eon ends?

>>From "The Space Review"
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/449/1

The Astrazoic Eon
by Phil Smith
Monday, September 12, 2005
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When ISS Expedition One, carrying William Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko,
and Sergei Krikalev, soared into space from the steppes of Kazakhstan
on October 31, 2000, they pulled behind them the curtain on an eon
that has lasted 542 million years. As the three men entered an infant
space station still under construction, six billion citizens went about
their business like any other day. Perhaps a few million people tapped
into the Internet or turned on the television, temporarily fascinated
by the idea of a unique group of roommates sizing up a celestial
domicile. Several thousand might have sensed that a new stage of
space exploration had been reached, that soon, finally, we would send
our own kind to the Moon and beyond. I would guess, however, that
only a handful fully recognized the implication of Expedition One:
from now on, life will begin to survive, grow, and evolve off the Earth.
As soon as those men lifted off the pad on a pillar of fire as bright
as the Sun, the Phanerozoic Eon came to an end, and the Astrazoic Eon
dawned.
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Perplexed comment:
If they really intend to evolve out there, they should have brought
up some women.


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