Ahmose's Blog – December 2008 Archive (5)

Félicette and Félix may not be the best-known cats in the world — but maybe they should be, as Félicette became the first of only two cats (as far as I can establish) to have been sent into space, while Félix had been trained to be sent.

The then Soviet Union experimented in the later 1950s with dogs in capsules on the edge of space; then in 1957 Laika, a mongrel dog who became very well known, was launched in Sputnik 2. According to… Continue

Why is it that the first we hear of the cat is when it appears in Egypt around 2,000 B.C. as the living embodiment of the goddess Bast? The dog was domesticated... comfortably ensconced as man's adoring servant, catching frisbees and letting his tongue loll unattractively out of his mouth, long before the cat arrived on the scene. Why? Where was the cat? Why are there no images of cats in cave paintings? Why is the Bible silent on the subject?…

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By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer Malcolm Ritter, Ap Science Writer – Thu Dec 4, 4:11 am ET AP – This composite image provided by NASA Wednesday Dec. 3, 2008 of the Tycho supernova remnant combines … NEW YORK – More than 400 years after Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe challenged established wisdom about the heavens by analyzing a strange new light in the sky, scientists say they've finally nailed down just what he saw.







It's no big surprise. Scientists have… Continue

By Clara Moskowitz

Special to SPACE.com

posted: 19 November 2008

06:16 am ET





One of the gravest dangers facing future astronauts traveling to Mars will be radiation in space: If the long trip doesn't kill them, cancer eventually could.



These threats can, however, be defeated. In Star Trek, a deflector shield surrounded the Starship Enterprise, and radiation bounced off it. Now tests show it's possible to create a real deflector shield that would have… Continue

By The Associated Press



posted: 02 December 2008

05:08 pm ET





BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) _ A Danish adventurer is first in line to ride aboard a privately funded, two-seat rocket ship designed by a California rocket maker to fly about 37 miles above Earth.



Xcor Aerospace said Tuesday that Per Wimmer, an investment banker based in London, will be the first passenger aboard Lynx, a space tourism vehicle designed to take off and land like an airplane.… Continue