A team of astronauts is specially trained to solve an unprecedented disaster in space. It sounds like the plot of Armageddon or any number of other generic Hollywood blockbusters, but in the Russian space adventure Salyut-7, it actually happened. Unfortunately, somehow that doesn’t make the movie any more exciting.
Peggy Whitson, who touched down on Saturday night in Kazakhstan at 9:21pm EST, departed Earth just a few days after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. In the interim, she’s been merrily tweeting down about her exercise regimen, space fashions, space cooking, and space toilet upkeep. Space sounds…
In The Martian, Matt Damon used his own shit to fertilize potatoes and survive the Red Planet. While we all know Matt Damon isn’t actually an astronaut, we do know that human excrement is very much real—and it could be integral to getting real humans to Mars in the near future.
Sometime between your marine biologist and professional ninja phases, you probably dreamed of being an astronaut as a kid. But have you seen all the work that goes into actually becoming one? Save yourself years of G-force training and wearing onesies and just shortcut your way onto the International Space Station,…
Astronauts are golden retrievers of human beings. The rest of us have to live vicariously through their resplendent existences while we sit back and watch hours of cats reacting to fidget spinners. Now, Reebok has decided to make our astronaut envy even worse—it’s finally revealed the space boots for Boeing Starliner…
We’re all clamoring to get into space these days, but lost in our excitement to fly to the Moon and colonize Mars is a brutal truth: the final frontier is a cold, inhospitable wasteland that’ll kill you at the first opportunity it gets. Astronauts already know this, but for the rest of us, here are just a few of the…
NASA’s astronauts are American heroes and proxies for our hopes and dreams. The best part of each new astronaut class is that we get an entirely fresh crop of people we can live vicariously through, and this year is no exception. Today, NASA announced its 22nd space squad. Although over 18,000 applied, the space…
WASHINGTON, D.C.—It’s 7pm, and the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University, which was packed with investors, aerospace tycoons, and scientists just hours ago, has dwindled to a dedicated few. It’s a very different crowd than the folks who came earlier in the day to watch Buzz Aldrin and other space veterans…
Another day, another study showing how awful microgravity is to the human body. In the latest research, scientists have found that long term exposure to space inhibits the movement of oxygen through the body, reducing an astronaut’s ability to perform strenuous tasks.
As journalists, it’s our obligation—nay, our duty—to ask the hard questions. So when presented with the opportunity to ask a living former astronaut and American hero Mike Massimino about his two trips to the final frontier to fix the Hubble Space Telescope, without any real impetus or news peg, we knew what to do. We…
Although it sounds like The Hunger Games in space, Germany’s “Die Astronautin” competition—which means “the female astronaut”—seeks to put the first German woman into space. In March 2016, 400 women entered the competition, and yesterday, aerospace recruitment agency HE Space announced it had selected its final six…
Leland Melvin is a star in every sense of the word. The retired astronaut, NFL draftee, and literal dog whisperer has a resume most of us could only dream of. Now, he can add “bringer of internet joy in these dark and troubled times” to that very long list of accolades.
Spaceflight is not for the faint of heart—literally. The first results of NASA’s twin study, released just this week, revealed that space physically impacts astronauts on multiple levels, right down to shifts in gene expression. Now, a group of scientists at the University of Michigan have released research that…
After recent events, we’re all ready to hop aboard the next flight to Mars. But before us Earthlings embark on a seven-month journey to the Red Planet, we need to understand how the harsh conditions of space can affect our bodies.
Someone at Boeing has been on a serious Kubrick kick, as evidenced by the new spacesuits it made for Boeing Starliner astronauts. The blue suits, which were revealed today, combine a retro flare with a modern feel.
Early this morning, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet flexed his spacewalking muscles for the first time—and we got to live vicariously through him, thanks to a livestream straight from space.
Astronauts who return to Earth after long-duration space missions suffer from untreatable nearsightedness. Scientists have now isolated the cause, but finding a solution to the problem will prove easier said than done.
Shane Kimbrough is an American hero. Not only is he risking his life breathing recycled air and eating tasteless, shrink-wrapped meals in a radiation-blasted tin can 250 miles above Earth, the man just took time out of his busy schedule to participate in the grotesque bloodsport that is the 2016 presidential election.
New research shows that astronauts who return from extended missions in space experience a significant weakening of their spinal muscles. Disturbingly, their back muscles don’t return to normal even after several weeks back on Earth.
As is by now traditional, a studio has bought the rights to a book that hasn’t even come out yet. In this case, it’s Sony Pictures making a movie out of astronaut Scott Kelly’s Endurance: My Year in Space and Our Journey to Mars.
