“For that kind of money,” Kurt Vonnegut cracked on the CBS Evening News about the Apollo 11 moon landing, “the least NASA can do is discover God.” At the time of the mission, civil rights activists, anti-Vietnam War protesters and even top scientists were skeptical of its purpose and doubtful of its value. Contributions of women and black people like test pilot Ed Dwight were diminished and buried for years. Nostalgia lends itself to glossing over the protest and unrest of the time.
Alan Eustace, a senior vice president at Google, set a new world record today by completing the highest-altitude free fall yet--parachuting from 135,908 feet (or 25 miles) above Earth.
The record was previously held by daredevil skydiver Felix Baumgartner, who leaped from 24 miles above Earth in October 2012.
To put that in perspective, scientists say you officially enter space at 73 miles above Earth's surface. Eustace largely self-funded the project on the cheap, with a minimalist approach to technology.
Rosetta has arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. One of the most audacious space missions in decades, it is designed to reveal clues to the origins of the solar system, our home planet and life itself.
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