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To celebrate The Walt Disney Company's 100-year history, Citizen has created a collection of watches themed to the past ten decades. When it came time to design a watch to mark the height of the Space Age, illustrator Jeff Shelly knew the perfect role for Mickey Mouse: an Apollo astronaut. Shelly shares the story behind Citizen's Disney100 Astronaut Mickey timepiece.
A poem written by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón will fly to Jupiter's ocean-covered moon Europa engraved on a metal plate attached to the side of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft. Limón recited the ode, titled "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa," and invited the public to add their names to her "message in a bottle" at an event at the Library of Congress on Thursday (June 1). The mission is slated to launch in October 2024.
Former JAXA astronaut Naoko Yamazaki not only advised on the 12 new Nanoblock space series models, she is one, too. The tiny building block kits include one modeled after Yamazaki in the pressure suit she wore to launch on the space shuttle. Other sets in the new line include NASA's Space Launch System rocket, Apollo lunar module and a kit that can build either a space shuttle or a commercial launch vehicle atop the launch pad.
A spacesuit glove, a model of the Hubble Space Telescope and a couple of large astronomical instruments out of a retired airborne observatory are among the thousands of space artifacts NASA is set to offer to schools and museums. The agency is accepting applications now for its 60th screening of available science equipment and flown-in-space hardware, which are offered at no cost other than shipping and handling. Over the past 15 years, 13,000 NASA artifacts have gone to U.S. venues.
Fellow female astronauts and women working in the space program today are joining educators and museum curators to mark the 40th anniversary of Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. Sally's Night, led by the National Air and Space Museum, and other events are being held across the U.S. to share in the history and highlight women's roles in space and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.
Sixty years after the first woman launched into space, here is a short story about a comic strip artist, an anthropomorphic ant, an orbital workshop, a wizard and... Sally Ride. At the intersection of three anniversaries is that time when Johnny met Sally.
Nate D. Sanders Auctions has opened bidding on the Story Musgrave sale, a 100-lot catalog of space-flown collectibles from the collection of the only astronaut to fly on all five space shuttle orbiters. The auction includes silver medallions that were launched to the moon and toiletries taken into Earth orbit, all opening at $100 and without a reserve, per Musgrave's request. Bidding closes on Thursday, June 29 at 5 p.m. PDT (0000 GMT June 30).
A new monument will stand in Tallahassee to highlight Florida's role in space exploration. State legislators voted unanimously for the new landmark, which will recognize the past and present contributions that Florida has made to NASA and other U.S. efforts to live and work beyond Earth. The act calls for a contest to design the monument, which will be added to Florida's capital complex in the years to come.
A new museum exhibit showcases the career of the first commercial astronaut. SpaceShipOne pilot Mike Melvill and his wife Sally donated their collection to the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Among the items on display are Melvill's astronaut wings, his flight patches, Sally's SpaceShipOne-flown pin and Mike's X Prize M&M's.
NASA's first Mars analog to last more than a year is getting underway. CHAPEA, or Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, Mission 1 will see Kelly Haston, Ross Brockwell, Nathan Jones and Anca Selariu be confined for 378 days in Mars Dune Alpha, a mock Mars base at the Johnson Space Center. The four will live under Mars-like conditions, with a space-food-only menu and communication delays so NASA can better plan for future human expeditions to the Martian surface.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in southern California will unveil a statue of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, as part of its Fourth of July celebration. The tribute is a duplicate to another bronze monument at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in New York since June 2022. The Ride statues were created by the same artists behind sculptures of Jack Swigert and the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 crews.
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and "Mars rover" get a mention by Fall Out Boy in their cover of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire," updating the history for 1989 to 2023. The band omits mention of the International Space Station or the retirement of the space shuttle, among other events in space exploration history, in favor of two references to the search for extraterrestrial life.
In the final installment of the saga, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," the archaeologist enters space history. Whether its weaving his way through New York City's Apollo 11 ticker tape parade or encountering a member of Operation Paperclip, Dr. Jones latest and last adventure (now in theaters) gave filmmakers the chance to turn back the clock to Aug. 1969.
