altair

11.21.09

Inside Astronaut Boot Camp

What does it take to prep humans for a trip to an asteroid or a martian moon? Starvation? Isolation? Recycling feces for food? NASA's newest astronauts begin a grueling training regimen this fall to find out

By Dawn Stover Posted 10.22.2009 at 12:20 pm 10 Comments

Bugging Out: Astronauts test a prototype of a six-legged lunar buggy at Moses Lake in Washington. NASA

Three test pilots. Two flight surgeons. One molecular biologist. A flight controller, a Pentagon staffer and a CIA intelligence officer. These are the nine people chosen by NASA to be America’s next astronauts. Late this summer they reported to Houston along with two Japanese pilots, a Japanese doctor, a Canadian pilot and a Canadian physicist who will train alongside NASA’s class of 2009. Call them the lucky 14.

Selected from more than 3,500 applicants, NASA’s new astronaut candidates arrive at a pivotal moment in the history of human space exploration. The agency’s bold ambition is to rocket humans beyond the International Space Station for the first time in more than 40 years. The question is when.

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READ MORE ABOUT > altair, Apollo, astronauts, manned space program, manned spaceflight, Mars, nasa, November 2009, orion, space, space exploration

Assassin's Creed Debut

By Gregory Mone Posted 11.13.2007 at 4:07 pm 0 Comments

Finally, after months of anticipation, we can all go back to 1191 and jump into the thick of the Third Crusade as a ridiculously skilled assassin capable of swinging the massive war one way or another. Today—or tomorrow, maybe, since this release date has been elusive—marks the debut of Assassin's Creed, a highly anticipated new game from Ubisoft with some serious AI.

You assume the role of Altair, the aforementioned assassin, and—slight spoiler—you mix it up as a few other characters as well. The game, available on PS3 and XBox360, has created a huge buzz since its trailers first debuted, and according to some reviews, it does not disappoint. So pull up your hood, ready your blades, and get ready to run across some rooftops.—Gregory Mone

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READ MORE ABOUT > altair, Gregory Mone, massive war, third crusade, ubisoft