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Say hello to NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) — it's about to become the largest, most powerful space rocket we've ever built. More »
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Betelgeuse has been hogging the headlines lately, but what about the other stars in the constellation of Orion? This spectacular photo reveals the beauty of Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka, the trio of stars that make up its belt. More »
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Yesterday SyFy announced seven new television shows, including new programs from Kevin Sorbo and Lee Majors. Given that the we live in an era of snap judgments, I have already reviewed all seven shows based on a single press release. More »
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Yesterday NASA gave the world a first look at the Orion, a space vessel that will take humans back to the Moon in 2020, and then onward to Mars in the 2030s. More »
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Last night's Chuck started the ramp-up to the season's "gamechanging" finale with a gamechanger of its own: Beckmann was revealed to be a midget. Oh, and we met the creator of the intersect... kind of. More »
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Oh, Chuck. After last night's episode, now I know that you're definitely heading somewhere. It's just that I'm not sure I like where that somewhere might be. Why must you torment me so? Spoilers! More »
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Wind tunnels have been used to test race cars, fighter planes, even bobsleds, but there's only one wind tunnel in the world that can hit Mach 30. The LENS-X wind tunnel can hit the hypersonic speeds necessary to test the latest ultrafast aircraft, space planes, and NASA's Orion space vehicle (pictured). Every time they crank it up to full speed, it uses enough energy to launch a Saturn rocket. That's one bad-ass wind tunnel. More »
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When the struggling writer is pitching a book to an agent, he or she had better have a book, right? Well, Finnish SF author Hannu Rajaniemi sold three of them to classy UK-based Orion imprint Gollacz based on a mere 24 pages. Could you also be 24 pages away from selling your book? Find out how Rajaniemi managed the feat. More »
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It's hard to imagine anything more unpleasant than being stuck in a metal can millions of miles from home with a crazy person. Space missions to Mars and beyond will need a way to deal with the boredom, isolation and close quarters of long-term space travel, or some unlucky astronauts could find out just how bad space madness gets. The American Psychological Association is on top of the problem, though. They've got three ideas that could help keep our space explorers from going all "Major Tom" on us. More »
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They're the core characters behind DC's summer extravaganza Final Crisis, but that doesn't mean that you necessarily know who Darkseid, Orion, Metron or any of the rest of the New Gods actually are. Before "evil wins" in the DC Universe, here's a quick primer to let you know just what a Fourth World actually is, anyway. More »
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NASA officials are whining that the Russian space program is unsafe. True, the last two Soyuz capsules have had rough re-entries, but none of the crew got a scratch on them. In fact, last we checked the Russian space program hasn't had a death on their watch since 1971 (1967 Soyuz I crash pictured). NASA can't exactly say the same, (cough ::Columbia:: cough) so where do they get off pointing fingers? More »
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Ever since the Columbia disaster, NASA's been hurting for some good press in the crewed spaceflight program. Agency scientists think they have the answer — sending a crewed mission to a Near Earth Object (NEO) once the new Orion spacecraft begins missions in 2015. What are they thinking?! It's hard to imagine a worse approach to fixing a a wing of the agency that has given the public little reason to be interested or confident in its capabilities since the Columbia disaster in 2003. More »
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Actually, we aren't sure if this is Orion, but we just couldn't pass up a nice Blade Runner reference. This spaceship or space station looks like it's been attacked and is about to fall victim to the gravity of the planet below, and it couldn't be more beautiful. More »
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