Mary Robinette Kowal gets into the nitty gritty of space defecation and how "there's no good way for women to pee in space" was never a completely satisfactory answer for a lack of women in space, at least from the engineering side of things. Turns out, the ideas we had for going to the bathroom in space in general were... lackluster. To rely on the old saying, why is it we could put a man on the moon but we couldn't come up with a half decent way to get people a bathroom in space without having to sit in it?
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Via Neil Monday
Usually when you're on a flight you're busy preoccupying yourself with whatever took your interest in the land of Netflix, or catching up on rest. Maybe, just maybe you're one of those traveling conversationalists making small talk with whoever is next to you. Well, talk about a fun way to spice up a flight. Just being able to sit back and watch a space shuttle ascend to unfathomable heights would be pretty cool.
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Via AIRBOYD
This gem of a throwback depicts Commander David Scott of the Apollo 15 showing what happens when you drop a hammer and a feather at the same time, when out there chilling on the moon. Basically, as per Galileo's findings, every object falls at the same rate regardless of mass.
With a lot of additions to the Star Wars universe, and the directive that Star Wars should be okay for kids, there was some internal confusion over what "spice" is or does. That is of course until a certain writer had a hilariously direct conversation with George Lucas. People have made some other very humorous and poignant observations on Star Wars, like how Darth Vader is so extra, or this Star Wars fan calling out people's complaints. And for good measure here's a twitter thread on how different Star Wars characters take their coffee.
Someone on AskReddit got a thread going about the scariest space facts and mysteries that people know about. It's easy to forget that we're on a giant rock flying and falling and spinning madly on through space. I mean, we forget to look up at the sky enough as it is. Maybe a convenient forgetfulness.
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It's a lot easier said than done when it comes to taking a leak in outer space. I guess you'd expect nothing less. Everything seems to have an innate tendency to grow far more complicated as you drift further away from this particular rock that's flying through space. Mary Robinette Kowal provides an equally entertaining and informational Twitter thread on the backstory surrounding astronauts' experiences with trying to functionally use the restroom while on missions in outer space.
Via Corey Lambrecht
They say you can't get to Mars without breaking a few eggs. While the most recent SpaceX Starship attempt didn't exactly have a perfect landing, watching the thing from far away lets you see exactly how it straight up looks like a sideways building falling to the earth before very nearly re-righting itself and (almost) sticking the landing.
Via VideoFromSpace
The Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico collapsed and shattered in a disheartening moment for astrophysicists everywhere. The main cables holding up the massive 900 ton receiver failed and the whole thing collapsed into the Gregorian dome. Groups are focusing on getting funds from the U.S. Congress to rebuild the observatory.
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Tumblr did some research on the fastest manmade object. By the sound of it this manhole cover was launched into space with such monstrous force that it could've punched a hole through a planet. Maybe the aliens will touch base some day in the future, and ask us why we went and did something like that.
It's quick Tumblr posts like this that manage to remind us that humans can be ridiculously awesome sometimes. Just picturing all these brilliant minds gathered around celebrating the moment that they successfully got the Mars Curiosity Rover to sing "Happy Birthday!" to itself is enough to get the good feels rolling.
This quick Tumblr post shows just how quickly those dumb questions we type into Google can quickly spiral out of control. At least we don't actually have tons of moths trying to fly into the sun everyday. That'd be sad. Very sad. Check out some more gold from Tumblr with this Tumblr thread that provides an extreme analysis of the Ratatouille timeline.
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Via Bo Gardiner
Stay in school, folks. Sit back and watch a couple TV hosts argue over whether or not the moon is a planet or star. It somehow gets worse as the video progresses.
One of Tumblr's favorite things to do is expound on human nature in discussions, essays and threads about the role human beings as team "hold my beer" in the universe. It's generally regarded, out of self interest and flattery that we're basically badass space orcs. These kinds of discussions go on to describe Earth as the type of planet whose wildlife could fight off an alien invasion. So in this context, the idea that a human ship would have a knife Roomba affectionately referred to as "Stabby" not only makes perfect sense, but sort of makes us want to get one right now.
Perhaps the most mind blowing fact about the size of the universe is that the universe doesn't have one size, instead it's just that the universe is literal size. It's also wild to think about the fact that we can see the light from a galaxy that existed long before homo sapiens did. Taking a minute to step outside the mental carousel of juggling our daily obligations and life problems, and to stare up at space to appreciate the beautiful insignificance of it all in the grand expanse of the universe, can work wonders for keeping the ego in check.
