Category Archives: Newspace

Newspace

The Chinese space program launches its first human-crewed space-docking mission, and the crew includes their first female taikonaut.

SF/Fantasy icon Lucy Lawless has pleaded guity to charges stemming from her eco-activism, and could spend up to three years in jail.

Michael Bay’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle reboot has been pushed back, and may even be shelved.

In Manitoba, Canada, a hockey-playing robot took gold at a Robotics Competition.

And from Japan comes…. The air-conditioned bra? Video below:

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Newspace

Nasa’s Nustar X-ray telescope zooms into orbit, as this week brings us a great deal of space-related items.

Are extrasolar planets commonplace, as we see in so much SF? Recent observations suggest earthlike planets do NOT need stars with heavy metal content to form. Meanwhile, this poorly-titled article suggest life may be quite common out there.

Closer to home: Titan has a lake, of sorts, but you likely wouldn’t want to swim it.

An asteroid the size of a city block will buzz by tomorrow; here‘s how you can get a look online.

Kim Stanley Robinson discusses his recent book, 2312, which returns to hard SF with a peek at the colonization of the solar system.

And below….

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Newspace

In addition to general news, I hope people here will treat this as a place for general OT comments, as well.

Today, we have Jerry O’Connell and Eddie Izzard starring in a dark, gritty, and (one imagines) wholly ill-conceived and unnecessary reimagining of The Munsters. It will be called Mockingbird Lane and premiere sometime next year.

NASA and congress arrive at an agreement concerning private space taxi service.

Meanwhile, America’s National Reconnaissance Office has just donated two spy telescopes to NASA.

Below, this week in unique uses of technology. These have to be seen to be believed.

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Newspace

Marvel Comics has created a sidekick for Hawkeye. A speedy knock-off, prompted by the success of The Avengers? No—it’s a plan to help a hearing-impaired child. The character may never appear in continuity, but it’s some compensation for the loss of DC’s physically-challenged super-doer, Oracle.

Virgin Galactic has received the go-ahead for the next phase in their development, as the Dragon Capsule readies for departure from the International Space Station.

Our own Crossover Comix page welcomes scans from the new Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover, and last year’s Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes shindig.

And by now we’ve all heard of the Miami cannibal attack, and doubtless made or heard the standard grim gag: is the zombie apocalypse, in fact, upon us?

Various video, and Venus, below:

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Newspace

SpaceX’s launch is a go for Saturday and, with that, we have reflections on the privatization of space travel. We also have new fuel for the ongoing debate about what (and who) might wait in the distant reaches of space.

A recent fossil find in China could represent a hitherto unknown species of human.

Of course, Maria Jose Cristerna, the Vampire Woman of Guadaljara, Mexico, might also be a hitherto unknown species of human.

Light clothing, Seattle ComicCon, and more of the Vampire Woman, below:

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Newspace

Your phone could become a digital wallet.

The self-published e-book “Wool” has garnered enough of a following that the movie studios have become interested.

George Lucas does something very cool, for the first time in a while.

Find out how you can watch SpaceX’s launch to the International Space Station on May 19 (Of course, two cosmonauts and one astronaut are en route soon).

Guess what the world oldest known cave art appears to represent?

A meteor miss of a populated planet and more, follow:

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Newspace

The Japanese think we need a witty, trilingual vacuum cleaner

In a what NASA calls an historic achievement, astronomers have detected the light emanating from an extrasolar world.

Wednesday May 9, Buzz Aldrin will announce the winner of the Space Race 2012 contest, the lucky person who will make a suborbital flight with Armadillo Airspace. Lauren Furgason of Seattle, Sara Cook of Washington, D.C., and Gregory Schneider of Tucson, Arizona are the final three contestants from an original roster of 50,000+.

Video of this below, plus a superheroic endorsement (with an appearance by a Bureau-crat), and yet another unique Youtube take on The Avengers:

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Newspace

SpaceX once again has delayed its first launch to the International Space Station. The new date is May 19.

Made in Space: the European Space Agency wants people to be aware of how many developments and products have origins in a healthy space program.

The Loch Ness Monster—or a reasonable facsimile— has been ordered to leave the Chippewa River in Wisconsin.

And below, a video glimpse of Free Comic Book Day, 2012 at my LCS, featuring Andrew Murray’s homemade replica of the 1966 Batmobile:

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Newspace

SpaceX has test-launched the rocket that will take the first-ever private space capsule to the International Space Station.

Russia plans to land cosmonauts on the moon by 2030. Perhaps they’ll take a few conspiracy theorists along and leave them behind.

A couple is suing their landlord because the house is haunted. Sucks when your place gets repossessed.

If you can’t get tickets to The Avengers this week, you can at least enjoy the biggest full moon of the year

And we follow up last week with more Avengers-related video shenanigans, after the click:

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