Russian

The recent anniversary of Apollo 11 has sparked a revived call for manned exploration of Mars. And many have responded to that call by listing the vast technical challenges that such a journey would entail. However, some have worried that the psychological challenge of sending men to the red planet far outweighs any engineering issue.

To test the psychological effect of such a trip, the European Space agency set up simulated Mars missions where six "astronauts" were locked in a tube for months on end. The volunteers for the initial, 105-day, test have just emerged from their titanium chrysalis, and it seems like it wasn't a day to soon.

The spectacular picture above was (reportedly) shot high above the set of a movie. Producers for an unknown movie paid a couple of Russian pilots to fly their SU-35UB jet at speeds past Mach 2.0... without a canopy! After the flight, the pilot said, "While on this speed I even managed to pull out my fingers in glove for an inch or two outside - it became heated very fast because of immense friction force plane undergoes with the air."

If, late this month, you should happen to hear news reports of a man plunging toward Earth engulfed in flame, be assured that thousands of amateur-radio enthusiasts across the world are monitoring the situation closely. The “man” is actually SuitSat, a project conceived by the group Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) to get schoolchildren excited about space.

Astronauts on board the ISS will soon be disposing of surplus Russian Ormal space suits by releasing them into space.