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Events in space don’t often unfold like they do in the movies.
However, the journey of a spaceship can provide amazing sights and surprising moments that are far more spectacular than fiction.
SpaceX loaded its mega-moon rocket and Starship capsule onto the launch pad this week to begin its fourth test flight, and the thrilling show did not disappoint.
The unmanned starship capsule embarked on an orbital excursion before making a controlled reentry, putting its heat shield in pace with the tempestuous temperatures of Earth’s atmosphere. Finally, the sturdy craft burned up the expected landing and crashed into the Indian Ocean.
Milestones achieved during flight demonstrate the eventuality of a starship reusability, which will come in handy when the SpaceX team sends its vehicle on journeys to the moon, Mars and beyond.
Meanwhile, SpaceX’s rival Boeing made historic progress during the maiden voyage of its Starliner crewed spacecraft.
Chris O’Meara/AP
The Boeing Starliner capsule lifted off Wednesday atop an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
After Wednesday’s launch, the Starliner and its first human crew set a course for the International Space Station.
But the flight was not without problems, including helium leaks and jet failures.
After dealing with potential mission control setbacks, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams received a joyous welcome aboard the station Thursday afternoon. Now the astronaut duo will spend another eight days or so on the station.
“We’re extremely happy to be in space,” Williams said. “It just doesn’t get much better.
Giant snake motifs dominate a collection of ancient rock carvings found in Venezuela and Colombia, believed to be among the largest ever found.
Scholars hypothesize that the monumental works, which also include human figures, geometric shapes and birds, served as boundary markers of the territories the engravers inhabited.
One of the snake carvings measures about 138 feet (42 meters), which scientists say may be the largest single rock carving recorded in the world.
“One could be a warning sign – you’re in our backyard, behave yourself.” The second could be a sign of identity – you are in our backyard, you are among friends,” said the lead author of the study, Dr. Philip Riris, associate professor at Bournemouth University in England.
“But I don’t think they had a single purpose, so they might as well be both.
Courtesy of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
The family that discovered the dinosaurs returns to the site in July 2023 for the dig, including (clockwise from top left) Sam Fisher, Emalynn Fisher, Danielle Fisher, Liam Fisher, Kaiden Madsen and Jessin Fisher.
A family trip through the Badlands of North Dakota in 2022 led to a major scientific discovery — and soon a rare dinosaur find will be on display at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Sam Fisher, his sons, Jessin and Liam, then 10 and 7, and their cousin Kaiden Madsen, who was 9, saw what appeared to be a dinosaur foot sticking out of a rock, so they consulted a researcher at the museum.
Initial excavations suggest it is a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, and the fossil will be on display at the museum from June 21.
Experts at the museum will determine the true nature of the fossil while cleaning it, and the public can watch the process in real time.
Geoscientists have discovered the first evidence of fresh water on Earth locked in ancient crystal grains dating back about 4 billion years, much older than expected.
Scientists previously thought that Earth was completely covered by a global ocean at the time, rather than having dry land.
A new study suggests that the Earth’s water cycle was already working then.
The finding means that, geologically speaking, there was a recipe for the beginning of life not long after our world formed.
Jacob C. Blokland
An artist’s rendering of life shows Genyornis newtoni, the last of the mihirungs, at the water’s edge.
About 50,000 years ago, giant “thunderbirds” that were taller than humans and weighed hundreds of pounds lived in the forests and grasslands of Australia.
But these flightless birds, known as mihirungs, have been hard to find in the fossil record—until now.
When researchers discovered a skull belonging to a species known as Genyornis newtoni, they decided to create a digital reconstruction of the creature.
The final product revealed that the massive thunderbird had a face not unlike a strange goose with a massively muscled jaw.
Embark on a journey of curiosity with these stories:
— Engineers have identified a new plan to allow NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to continue making stunning observations of space after the observatory repeatedly went into “safe mode” this year.
— The world’s largest collection of fossilized feces is now on display at the Poozeum in Williams, Ariz., where visitors can get a “first-hand look at the diet, behavior and habitat of ancient creatures,” owner George Frandsen said.
— An intricately decorated blue room is the latest find discovered at an archaeological site in Pompeii, and researchers believe it served as an ancient Roman sanctuary.
— Botanists have found that the cells of a tiny fern contain more than 50 times more DNA than human cells, making them the largest known genome, according to new research.
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