Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!

08 Nov 2011 10:52

tags

World: So, humans could be going to Mars soon. That would be a truly giant leap.

  • Over a period of 17 months, everything was strictly regimented. Now they are returning to a life where they must deal with family and professional problems.
  • Mars500 project director Boris Morukov • Talking about the crew of “astronauts” after a 520 day simulated mission to Mars. The mission intended to answer the question: ” can people stay healthy and sane during six months rocketing to the Red Planet?” The participants, from countries like Europe, Russia and China, are expected to have problems adjusting to the “noise and activity of ordinary life.” Still, it seemed to go much better than this experiment in 2000, which ended “in drunken disaster when two participants got into a fistfight and a third tried to forcibly kiss a female crew member.” We would be a little frazzled, too, after hundreds of days of isolation and terrible food. source

17 Jan 2011 11:18

tags

World: China trying to look warmer, fuzzier to skeptical Americans

  • problem One in five Americans claim that China is the biggest threat to the U.S., way above any other country, probably because they stole all the jobs or something like that.
  • solution When President Hu Jintao is in the U.S., China plans to air ads on American TV in an attempt to soften their image. Hey, Yao Ming! Whoa, a Chinese astronaut! source

15 Nov 2010 20:43

tags

Tech: Mars: Where astronauts check in, but don’t check out

  • The main point is to get Mars exploration moving.
  • Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Washington State University astrobiologist • Suggesting that the first people to go to Mars shouldn’t come back to Earth, but rather stay there and help colonize the place. But, as NASA’s not convinced (“We want our people back,” a spokesperson said), Shulze-Makuch suspects they might need “an eccentric billionaire” for the project. Michael Bloomberg, what’re you up to? source

03 Jun 2010 21:59

tags

World: Russian Pretendonauts: Let’s pretend to go to Mars, guys!

  • 6 number of “spacemen” who will pretend to go to Mars; playtime!
  • 250 the number of days the crew will be pretending to go to Mars
  • 30 the number of days they’ll pretend to be on Mars’ surface
  • 220 the number of days it will take them to get “back” to Earth source

16 May 2009 23:14

tags

U.S.: Astronauts have a easy time slaying the Hubble beast

  • They expected trouble. They didn’t get it. Dealing with sharp objects, trying to fix a telescope in the middle of space, wearing those freaking suits, possibly getting hit with space junk – there were a lot of pitfalls in trying to fix the Hubble Space Telescope. But despite the massive length of time – six hours and 36 minutes – they did it easily. Great job guys! And when you’re done with that, we need some repairs for our apartment. source