Circling The Sun

Astronauts talking about viewing the earth from the moon, from The Overview Effect: Awe and Self-Transcendent Experience in Space Flight

“The anthropologists got it wrong when they named our species Homo sapiens (‘wise man’). In any case it’s an arrogant and bigheaded thing to say, wisdom being one of our least evident features. In reality, we are Pan narrans, the storytelling chimpanzee.”

— Terry Pratchett (via hot-elf)

The Sun rises over Earth in a postcard illustrated by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, recalling the 1965 mission when he became the first human to walk in space.

have y’all seen that nasa pic of the earth with the sun behind it on the night time side it really really fucked me up my own soul became solid and like………….. weeped!

gaia by luke jerram

NASA 60th Anniversary Tribute Posters - Created by Mike McCain

can't stop thinking about this

So you know those mutant strains of radiotrophic fungus they discovered in Chernobyl?  The ones that feed on gamma radiation?  Those fungi, the radiation-eating fungi?  From Chernobyl?  They brought some on board the International Space Station and took some measurements.  Here is the paper, titled:

A Self-Replicating Radiation-Shield for Human Deep-Space Exploration: Radiotrophic Fungi can Attenuate Ionizing Radiation aboard the International Space Station

Space is full of high-energy radiation, and radiation shielding is a big engineering challenge for Martian habitats and deep-space missions.  What they figured out is that an 8-inch thick layer of mutant Chernobyl radiation-eating fungus in the walls of the spacecraft or habitat would serve as a self-replicating, self-sustaining radiation shield for long-haul missions.

This sounds like such a good and normal idea!  Let’s do it!