Father Of The Space Shuttle, George Mueller, Dies At Age 97

George Mueller, the NASA administrator who helped steer the agency during the 1960s and was known as the ‘father of the space shuttle’, died earlier this week at the age of 97. Mueller joined NASA in 1963 as the Associate Administrator of the NASA Office of Manned Space Flight, where he oversaw the planning and…

Classic literary characters such as Sherlock Holmes have faced intense copyright battles, but now, another character is being claimed: Buck Rogers. With a potential film in the works, the estate of one of the character’s writers is claiming that they have a claim on the property.

Two New Cases Of Ebola Have Surfaced In Guinea

Just weeks before it would be declared Ebola-free, the World Health Organization confirmed that two new cases of the disease have surfaced in Guinea, showing that the outbreak lingers in the West African country. Reuters reports that while one case in Forecariah had a known transmission chain, the other, located in Conakry, came from unknown…

Watch The 1939 World’s Fair Come To Life In This Documentary

The 1939 World’s Fair was an incredible event that showcased the ‘World of Tomorrow’. Now, director Amanda Murray has brought the event to life with a new documentary. Featuring interviews from attendees and color footage, Murray’s documentary shows off the visitors and attractions that populated the New York event in 1939. From the perspective of…

The Avengers Assemble In This Cosplay Video From New York Comic Con

New York Comic Con is behind us, but this fantastic cosplay video will let you relive the glorious mix of costumes that go along with it. We really dig Sneaky Zebra’s cosplay videos – they’re energetic and entertaining alike, and you can even see the Hulkbuster Iron Man we wrote about a couple of weeks…

This House With A Star Trek Theater Can Be Yours For $1.2 Million 

Are you a Star Trek Fan? Do you have $1.2 million dollars? Are you in the market for a new home? Do you have the urge to move to Texas? If you answered Yes to any of those questions, this could be the house for you. Located in Friendswood, Texas, this 4-bedroom home went on…

SyFy’s Defiance Can’t Defy Cancellation

SyFy’s big transmedia flagship show Defiance won’t be returning for a fourth season, according to Variety. The cancellation of the show comes just days after Dominion was also cancelled. Defiance was developed by Rockne S. O’Bannon, Kevin Murphy, and Michael Taylor, and depicted a quasi-transformed Earth after the arrival of a number of alien species…

Akeela Is Tired Of All This Precog Nonsense in a Clip From Monday’s Minority Report

Akeela is fast becoming a standout character on Fox’s Minority Report. And in Monday’s episode—which also guest-stars Reed Diamond from Dollhouse and Agents of SHIELD—she discovers the downside of trying to keep a secret from a clairvoyant. Check out an exclusive clip! The above clip comes from the episode “The Present,” airing Monday at 9…

Ann Leckie’s Picks for the 10 Best Science Fiction Books Include Some Big Surprises

Publishers Weekly asked Ancillary Mercy author Ann Leckie to name her picks for the 10 best science fiction novels. And there are some consensus choices in there—but also a few out-of-left-field candidates. Including Jack Vance, Leigh Brackett, and C.J. Cherryh. Do you agree? Charlie Jane Anders is the author of All The Birds in the…

Continuum Actually Managed to Have a Pretty Sweet Ending

The final episode of Continuum doesn’t air on Syfy until tonight—so if you haven’t seen it yet, please skip the rest of this recap and just know that there actually is a decent ending in store for you. Everybody else, read on. Spoilers ahead… I have severely mixed feelings about the final shortened season of…

Great Scott! Check Out Some Never-Before-Seen Photos from the Official Back to the Future Art Book

We’re only a few days away from the day Marty and Doc arrived in 2015 and things are about to get very Back to the Future. Online, in stores, basically everywhere, fans will soon be celebrating the great film series. Among the new pieces of merch that are being tied to this unique anniversary is…

The Vampire Diaries Is Having Grown-Up, Scary Fun Without Elena

I know some of us gave up on this show a while ago, but The Vampire Diaries is back in fighting form this season. This week’s episode is proof of that. Spoilers for The Vampire Diaries episode “Never Let Me Go” ahead. I may pick on Elena Gilbert, but I want to be clear I…

Proof That Playing With Toy Model Kits Will Prove Invaluable In Later Life

The amazing author (and io9 reader!) Greg Cox faced a huge dilemma recently. And he solved it, thanks to science! No, wait. Sorry, thanks to his invaluable experience with toy model kits! Over on Facebook, Cox explains that he was just writing a scene involving a mad scientist, and “I’m trying to decide what color…

The Ice King From Adventure Time Is Getting His Own Spin-off Comic!

There have been an awful lot of Adventure Time tie-in comics… but this one is different. Boom! Studios is releasing a comic-book miniseries about the Ice King, aka Simon Petrikov, whose magical crown drove him insane. And the comic is written by Emily Partridge, who’s actually worked on Adventure Time as a storyboard revisionist artist,…

Oh, It’s Just Firefly‘s Kaylee Dressed Up as Captain Mal

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io9 Newsstand: This Ken Liu Story Will Make You Call Your Grandmother Right Now

This week’s stories are a mixture of hope, sadness, cynicism, and cute animals. There’s a lot of heartstring-tugging. I regret none of it. Crystal by Ken Liu | Daily Science Fiction The night before my departure, I trembled in the bed that Nainai and I shared, the darkness outside the window as frightening and unknown…

Jurassic World Would Have Been Amazing If Released In 1978

Everyone knew Jurassic World was going to be a hit, but no one knew just how big of a hit it was going to be. It turns out, experts simply underestimated the public’s appetite to see dinosaurs eat human beings. That idea of dinosaurs vs. humans is something that’s obviously been dramatized for decades so…

French Court Rules That Luc Besson’s Lockout Ripped Off Escape From New York

Luc Besson’s Europacorp has to pay out €80,000 after a French court ruled that Lockout was pretty much of a copy of Escape From New York. There are a number of interesting things to note about this case. First of all, French copyright law is, in general, much more plaintiff friendly than America’s. Second, the…

It’s Friday! So Let’s Bust Out the GIF Party!

We made it through the whole week! So it’s time to bust out your inner Greek rollerskating muse and get your GIF Party on! For this week’s extra-special GIF Party, I made the above GIF of Xanadu, starring Olivia Newton-John, just for you. I also made the GIF below, although it didn’t turn out as…

Your Kids Will Love Goosebumps (and You’ll Be Okay With It)

R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps book series has been making children squirm since 1992, and now there’s a movie that aims to capture that same mix of creepy monsters and silliness. But the scariest thing in Goosebumps is Jack Black’s weird accent. And this film is strictly for kids. Really, that the frights in this long-awaited release…