io9
retro futurism
Posts Tagged “
astronauts
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2001 a space odyssey
My God, It's Full Of Future Technology
Forty years after its premiere, is the movie version of 2001: A Space Odyssey coming true? An article on science website PhysOrg.com claims that Stanley Kubrick's vision of the then-future of space travel and human existence was more prescient than it initially seemed, way back in the swinging '60s. More »
retro futurism
In 1976, A Board Game Tried To Crack The Glass Stratosphere
This brightly colored astronaut appeared on the cover of "What Shall I Be? The Exciting Game of Career Girls," a board game from 1976. Astronaut was certainly a step up from some of the traditionally feminine careers presented in an earlier edition of the game (air hostess, for example), and yet there are two big things wrong with this picture. Do you know what they are? More »
sci fashion
Mars Astronauts Will Have Smooth Moves
The first astronauts on Mars will most likely wear smoking fetish gear that draws on the designs of MIT professor Dava Newman. Time magazine just named her ultralight BioSuit one of the top 100 inventions of the year. The current generation of spacesuits weighs up to 300 pounds, thanks to gas pressurization, life support and multiple layers of crap. More »
fashion
Fashionable Shoes For Space Travel
An Italian company called Geox is marketing shoes and outerwear that are packed with patented technologies invented for use by astronauts in space. A semi-permeable membrane lines each shoe and jacket. The membrane is riddled with micro-pores big enough to vent sweat, but small enough to prevent water from getting into the shoe. Geox's shoes are popular with celebs like Angelina Jolie and the Pope, and Geox chairman Mario Moretti Polegato enlightens us as to why:The name 'Geox' [is] from the Greek word geo for 'earth,' and 'x,' the letter symbolizing technology. Wearing these shoes makes you feel you are walking barefoot on earth and without the stink.The best part? There are thigh-high suede boots fitted out with this space-age micro-pore crap. I hope the boys up in the International Space Station are strutting around in those.
Space-age shoewear [via The Manila Standard] More »
space life
Ramadan in Space With First Malaysian Astronaut
Yesterday in Malaysia crowds went wild as the first Malaysian astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, blasted into space on Russian rocket launched from Kazakhstan. Shukor is heading for a 10-day stint on the International Space Station, where he'll be the first person to observe the Islamic holy month Ramadan in space. Malaysians turned out in droves to watch the blast-off on giant-screen TVs in Kuala Lumpur's Freedom Square, selling t-shirts and other space memorabilia. Shukor is an orthopaedic surgeon and professor — and pretty damn hot, too. Image via Getty.Rocket launches first Malaysian into space [via Reuters] More »
space age
Space Is More Fun Without Space Travel
The end of the Space Age was the best thing that ever happened to science fiction, claims author Gerard J. DeGroot:When the space age ended, the alien age began. In the early 1990s, the Disney Corporation decided to close down its Mission to Mars ride, itself a direct descendant of the Rocket to the Moon attraction Werner von Braun had helped to design. In its place came Alien Encounter, in which an extraterrestrial stows away on a spaceship. This made things easier for Disney, as one executive admitted: "One way for an attraction to remain timeless is for it to be based in fantasy, rather than reality."More »
space age
No Interstellar Future For You
Sure, when the Soviets launched Sputnik, it made us frantic. But then we lost the thrill of the race. Just ask astronomer Stuart Atkinson:The Space Age is dead, it died of starvation and neglect, somewhere around 1980. Yes, we fed it and gave it money while it was young, and exciting, and sexy, while our love for it was bright and new, but when it got older, and needed more expensive care and more of our time and understanding we guided it to a comfy chair over on the far side of the room, made it a cup of tea, handed it a magazine and left it to look after itselfMore »
