Space & Spaceflight

Deals: Lego Exo-Suit back in stock on Amazon

Amazon has returned the extremely hard to get Lego Ideas Exo Suit to its online store. At $34.95 they even knocked 4 whole cents off the retail purchase price! Limit 2 per customer on these. I’m guessing they will go really quick as they are extremely hard to find. Classic Space Lego figs in green?…

This Is What a Dead Star Looks Like

Ever wondered what a dead star looks like? Then have a gander at the image above — you’re looking at “Kepler’s Supernova”. First spotted 410 years ago today, it’s the most recent supernova to have been observed without sky-gazing equipment within our own galaxy. Named after Johannes Kepler, the German astrologer and mathematician who first…

A Brief History of Scientists Hunting for Time Travelers

Time travel is possible—or at least a lot of serious physicists say so. It’s probably not possible to pull it off in a souped-up Delorean, but there are wormholes, Tipler cylinders, and other Einstein-inspired theories for how it could work. Which raises the question: Why haven’t we met any visitors from another time? It sounds…

This is the view that Alexander Gerst got during his recent space walk outside the International Space Station. He was, quite literally, on top of the world. [ESA]

Space Detective Is Now a Job That Exists

Want to use some damning images from Google Earth to back up your case in a lawsuit? Right now it’s not quite that easy. Which is why a satellite imaging specialist and space lawyer (actual thing) have just formed what is about to become every NASA-loving kid’s dream job: the world’s very first space detective…

This is astronaut Alexander Gerst peeking up at the camera during his spacewalk outside the International Space Station yesterday. How. Amazingly. Cool. [Alexander Gerst]

Salyut 7: The Last and Longest-Running Soviet Space Station (Until Mir)

By the latter half of the Space Race between the United States and the USSR, focus had shifted from simply putting people into orbit to seeing how long they could stay up there. And while the U.S. won the sprint to the moon, it was actually the Russians who won the endurance test with the…

This Giant Shaking Table Will Ensure the Orion Capsule Survives Launch

When the Orion spacecraft makes its maiden voyage into space, it will do so upon an unproven rocket design that’s bigger than and more powerful than anything we’ve built before. To ensure that the precious capsule survives liftoff, NASA is shaking it down with the help of this ginormous jitter table. Much like the “earthquake…

How the Alien Surfaces of Our Solar System Look, Side-by-Side

With Rosetta hanging out so closely with an asteroid, we’re getting better views than ever before of what the surface of an asteroid looks like. But compared to one another, how do the surfaces we’ve visited in our Solar System stack up? Fortunately, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab has put together this infographic which shows the…

No, this isn’t some kind of strange pool game: it’s the International Space Station’s reflection in an antenna on the Russian Zvezda module. It was snapped by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst. [ESA]

Humans First Saw the Far Side of the Moon 55 Years Ago Today

The side of the moon that faces Earth is familiar to anyone who’s stood outside at night. But it wasn’t until this day in 1959 that mankind was able to glimpse the dark side of the moon, thanks to a grainy-yet-distinct photo sent back by the Russian spacecraft Luna 3. Space historian Amy Shira Teitel…

The Quest to Build an Elevator to Space

Forget buying a stairway to heaven. Serious people are trying to build an elevator to space. That’s not a metaphor, and yes, a space elevator sounds like plot point from an Arthur C. Clarke novel. Which makes sense, because it is. It’s a risky but well-considered plan to create a workable transit system between the…

A Northrop Grumman engineer checks that the sunshield for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope unfolds properly before it has to do so in space. (Fortunately, it does.) [NASA]

The Most Detailed Map of the Ocean Floor Ever Was Made From Space

The bottom of the ocean is dark, mysterious, and vast—nearly all of it unmapped. Today, however, scientists reveal the clearest map of the ocean floor ever. They didn’t explore the ocean floor. They didn’t even send instruments into the water. Instead, they used gravity measurements from two satellites orbiting in space. The map shows thousands…

Titan Has a Huge Toxic Cloud Swirling Over Its South Pole

If you’re thinking of heading off on a spacecation, can we recommend that you don’t visit Titan’s south pole. Because not only is it cold and stormy—but new research also reveals that it’s toxic, too. The international Cassini mission has discovered a huge swirl of cloud above the south pole of Saturn’s largest moon. The…

Stunning Depictions of Ancient Comets That Scared the Hell Out of Humans

Long-tailed stars and mysterious glowing fireballs from the heavens were among the biggest and most fearful mysteries for stargazing humans throughout history. With the development of astronomy science, comets, meteors, meteorites and shooting stars became familiar objects of our universe, and with the advent of photography, depicting them became more precise. But before that, talented…

How Cramped Is It Inside a Space Shuttle?

Here’s a simple visual exercise you can do to get a better feel for the approximate living area inside one of our amazingly complex and now-retired space shuttles. You’ll need three adults. Have them stand in a row facing an audience. Now, have the adult in the middle turn sideways (they will be perpendicular to…

Why the Human Body Can’t Handle Heavy Acceleration

Our bodies are surprisingly resilient in many situations, but rapid acceleration is not one of them. While the human body can withstand any constant speed—be it 20 miles per hour or 20 billion miles per hour—we can only change that rate of travel relatively slowly. Speed up or slow down too quickly and it’s lights…

I Went to Brooklyn to Try on a Bonafide Spacesuit

If you want to experience what it’s like to wear a real-life spacesuit, you can go to one of two places: Russia or Brooklyn. (Or, you know, space.) We took the easy route and recently paid a visit to Final Frontier Design in the Brooklyn Navy yard to try on the outfit of an astronaut.…

Holy Shit This New Interstellar Trailer

This is the final trailer for Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. If you’re not already dying to see this movie, you will be now. In this trailer, you watch post-True Detective Matthew McConaughey choose between saving the world, and never seeing his family again. And he’s gotta go to space to do it. I am on the…