cwnl: First Female Cosmonaut in Space: Valentina Tereshkova Born March 6, 1937, Valentina is a retired Soviet cosmonaut, and was the first woman in space. She was selected out of more than four hundred applicants, and then out of five finalists, to pilot Vostok 6 on the 16 June, 1963, becoming both the first woman and the first civilian to fly in space, as she was only honorarily inducted into the USSR’s Air Force as a condition on joining the Cosmonaut Corps. During her three-day mission, she performed various tests on herself to collect data on the female body’s reaction to spaceflight. Before being recruited as a cosmonaut, Tereshkova was a textile-factory assembly worker and an amateur parachutist. After the dissolution of the first group of female cosmonauts in 1969, she became a prominent member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, holding various political offices. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, she retired from politics, but remains revered as a hero in post-Soviet Russia. Read more on Valentina Tereshkova

cwnl:

First Female Cosmonaut in Space: Valentina Tereshkova

Born March 6, 1937, Valentina is a retired Soviet cosmonaut, and was the first woman in space. She was selected out of more than four hundred applicants, and then out of five finalists, to pilot Vostok 6 on the 16 June, 1963, becoming both the first woman and the first civilian to fly in space, as she was only honorarily inducted into the USSR’s Air Force as a condition on joining the Cosmonaut Corps. During her three-day mission, she performed various tests on herself to collect data on the female body’s reaction to spaceflight.

Before being recruited as a cosmonaut, Tereshkova was a textile-factory assembly worker and an amateur parachutist. After the dissolution of the first group of female cosmonauts in 1969, she became a prominent member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, holding various political offices. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, she retired from politics, but remains revered as a hero in post-Soviet Russia.

Read more on Valentina Tereshkova

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has returned the first close-up image after beginning its orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta. (NASA)

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has returned the first close-up image after beginning its orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta. (NASA)

SKYLON Spaceplane: Mission Animation (uploaded by SpaceRenaissance)

Or: The Return of The Blue Danube.

Good news for spaceplane fanciers today, as a new report issued by the European Space Agency (ESA) says that “no impediments or critical items have been identified” which could block continuing development of the radical British-designed “Skylon” orbital craft.

—‘ESA: British Skylon spaceplane seems perfectly possible’ in the Register

Idea: Crowdfund a mission to put a monolith on the moon Is there an upper limit to the amount of money you can raise on Kickstarter? Because I guesstimate this project will require about half a billion dollars. So I only need to find 5 million geeks-like-me worldwide who think this is a cool enough idea to donate 100 bucks. That seems pretty doable, especially considering Kickstarter’s rule that nobody has to pay anything if I can’t raise all the money I need, so people can donate with confidence.  Related: Idea: A skyscraper in Tokyo shaped like Godzilla Ironic Sans (via Daring Fireball)

Idea: Crowdfund a mission to put a monolith on the moon

Is there an upper limit to the amount of money you can raise on Kickstarter? Because I guesstimate this project will require about half a billion dollars. So I only need to find 5 million geeks-like-me worldwide who think this is a cool enough idea to donate 100 bucks. That seems pretty doable, especially considering Kickstarter’s rule that nobody has to pay anything if I can’t raise all the money I need, so people can donate with confidence. 

Related: Idea: A skyscraper in Tokyo shaped like Godzilla

Ironic Sans (via Daring Fireball)