Yesterday was Carl Sagan’s birthday. Watch this clip a remember what a cool guy he was. The world needs more people like him…
SciFi films can be pretty scary, but it always helps to know that you’re watching fiction. Here are frightening facts from space that are anything but fictional.
Space Corpses in the Sky: Space exploration research has claimed a number of animal lives, and while the idea of sacrificing monkeys and dogs on the altar of science is rather disheartening, the notion that there are dead simian and canine space explorers in orbit RIGHT NOW just adds to the creepiness.
Several early space missions involved re-entry procedures, but not every spacecraft was recovered. This leads many to theorize that perhaps dozens of mummified animals are still making the orbital rounds up there. Think about that the next time you wish upon a star.
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on 24 April, 1990. This tool, built as a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency, is one of humanity’s most important tools in discovering the Universe. Since its start, it has shown us distant galaxies, nebulae, and has even given us a clear idea of the Earth’s age. It has answered some of the most lingering questions in astronomy, and is helping us discover whether life exists outside our planet. In this video, WatchMojo.com takes a look at some of the Hubble’s most notable and extraordinary discoveries.
According to Yahoo News:
anadian circus tycoon Guy Laliberte turned space into his big top Wednesday, boarding a Russian rocket and lifting off on a mission that mixes a serious message on water shortages with some clowning around in the cosmos.
Laliberte, an experienced fire-eater and stilt-walker who founded Cirque du Soleil, joined Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev and American astronaut Jeffrey Williams aboard a Soyuz craft that soared off the Kazakh steppe and set a course for the International Space Station.The billionaire who calls himself the first clown in space paid a reported $35 million for his nine-day stay at the station, where he plans to publicize the world’s growing shortage of clean water. His space extravaganza will culminate in a satellite linkup with shows in 14 cities across five continents featuring rock band U2 and Colombian pop star Shakira, as well as an appearance by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.
Check out WatchMojo’s interview with clown himself.
Jeremy Hansen talks to WatchMojo.com about the International Space Station and the work towards its completion. The International Space Station is our key to future discoveries as astronauts will be able to do research that was never possible on earth.
The University of Arizona, Tucson, which operates HiRISE, has just released a new batch of photos taken from a camera flying over the planet Mars.
“Each full image from HiRISE covers a strip of Martian ground 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) wide, about two to four times that long, showing details as small as 1 meter, or yard, across,” according to NASA’s Web site”
The Canadarm system is one of Canada’s most important contributions to space exploration. Located on the International Space Station, the system is comprised of two separate mechanical arms, each of which performs a separate task. The most recent addition is the Canadarm2, which was designed to aide assembly and maintenance aboard the space station. Astronauts going to the space station require specialized training to use these tools. In this video, WatchMojo.com speaks with Christophe Belzile, a robotic instructor at the Canadian Space Agency, to learn how the Canadarm2 works, and to get a brief primer in how the astronauts are trained to use it.
According to ABC Science.
A team of astronomers have found the ‘missing link’ of stellar death, revealing what our Sun might look like at the end of its life.
The group of Australian and US astronomers, led by Associate Professor Miroslav Filipovic of the University of Western Sydney, call the new class of object ’super planetary nebulae’.
They report on their finding in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Large stars typically end their life in a massive explosion of energy known as a supernova. Small stars end with a much smaller blast of gas and dust, known as planetary nebulae.
Planetary nebulae had only been detected around stars with a mass of between 30% and 60% that of the Sun. As a result, little was known as to what happened to average-sized star, such as our Sun.
Guy Laliberté is the founder of Cirque du Soleil, the world-famous circus troupe that renewed a whole industry. In conjunction with his non-profit organization, the ONE DROP Foundation, Laliberté is traveling to space in September 2009 to help promote the idea that everyone in the world should have access to clean and drinkable water. He has had to undergo rigorous training to prepare for his space mission, and his 12 days aboard the International Space Station helping with – and trying not to be a hindrance – on the space mission. In this video, WatchMojo.com learns more about Laliberté’s intensive training.
In this video WatchMojo.com speaks with Louie Bernstein about Galileo’s first discoveries and how it changed our understanding of the sky.
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