DailyDirt: Manned Space Exploration Is Coming Back

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The Apollo 11 Moon landing was a pretty big deal in 1969 (and it still is). It's been just 46 years since a human being first set foot on the moon, and it's a bit disappointing that we haven't been back more recently. Fortunately, there are some folks still working on manned space exploration (phew, SpaceX..), so people won't be limited to just visiting the ISS or Tiangong 1. If you're a space enthusiast, check out a few of these links on manned spaceflight stuff.

• Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit isn't on display for the public to gawk at (for its own protection), but a Kickstarter project is aiming to raise a cool half million bucks to digitize the suit and document it thoroughly so that it can be made more accessible to the public. Donations to this project will go to the Smithsonian Institution, and a portion of every donation may be tax deductible. Too bad none of the rewards include a 3D printable file of an entire suit.... [url]
• China has a unique place in space faring history -- with its taikonauts gaining equal footing with US astronauts and Russian cosmonauts. The Chinese space program has been back to the moon with a lunar rover, and it plans to bring back moon rocks in a couple years. People may walk on the moon again in a few years, too, but they probably won't have NASA logos on their suits. [url]
• Robert Behnken, Sunita Williams, Eric Boe, and Douglas Hurley will be the next US astronauts... to fly on private spaceships. The first test flights will begin as early as 2017 with SpaceX and Boeing taking astronauts to the International Space Station. Commercial tickets to get to the ISS will cost under $60 million (less than a Soyuz trip), but there's not that much room on the ISS for tourists. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: apollo, astronauts, cosmonauts, international space station, iss, lunar rover, manned missions, moon, moon landing, soyuz, space, space exploration, spacesuit, taikonauts
Companies: boeing, kickstarter, nasa, smithsonian institution, spacex