Could Jokes About Uranus Prevent A Mission To Uranus?
Humans make a lot of jokes about the seventh planet from the sun. But do scientists who study Uranus think the jokes are funny? The website Futurism found out.
Félicette, The First Cat In Space
Today in 1963, a black and white cat from the streets of France became the first cat to go into space. She didn't choose to go, of course, but she's a pioneer just the same - and until a few years ago, a greatly underappreciated one.
Ellen Ochoa Blazed Trails In Space (And Played The Flute Up There)
For National Hispanic Heritage Month, here's the story of the first Hispanic woman in space, Ellen Ochoa, talented and versatile even by astronaut standards.
Two Tortoises Orbited The Moon Before Humans Did
Apollo 8 brought the first human astronauts to lunar orbit in late 1968, but a few months beforehand, the Soviet Zond 5 mission sent two tortoises (and a few other living things) for a trip around the moon.
A Piece Of Sputnik Once Landed In Wisconsin
Sputnik IV, to be specific, had some trouble getting back to Earth as planned. Today in 1962, pieces of the Soviet spacecraft ended up crashing into a street in Manitowoc, Wisconsin - so the town started holding a SputnikFest to celebrate their place in space history.
Why Don’t Astronauts Do Laundry In Space?
There was a story recently about how NASA was partnering with Tide laundry detergent to work on a way to do laundry in space. Which means we don’t already do laundry in space, and there are some pretty big reasons why.
The Super Blood Moon Is When A Bunch Of Cool Moon Things Happen At Once
Next week many of us will be watching for the Super Blood Moon, which is actually three moon phenomena all happening at the same time, thus earning its memorable and maybe kind of terrifying nickname.
Voyager 1 Hears A “Hum” From Beyond The Solar System
Way out there beyond the edge of the solar system, Voyager 1 is measuring the density of the stuff out there. And because that stuff is vibrating, it comes out as sound. In other words, there are sounds in interstellar space and we have now recorded them.
An Online Dictionary For Science Fiction’s Many Words And Worlds
A new website called the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction is taking us back through the words that have made sci-fi what it is and showing how much this genre has shaped popular culture.
What Do Sounds Sound Like On Mars? Perseverance Rover Is Going To Find Out
The next Mars rover is set to land next month, and it's equipped with microphones to make the first audio recordings on another planet. So how does sound work on Mars, which has about 1 percent of the atmosphere Earth does?