Outer space is everywhere: Not only are we physically surrounded by it, but we’re inundated with images of it, both real and fictional. NASA’s long-lived Cassini mission is ending this week, just after its even longer-lived Voyager mission marked its 40th anniversary. SpaceX is about to launch the most powerful operational rocket in the world. Star Trek is returning to TV, The Martian author Andy Weir is returning to bookshelves, and Destiny 2 and a new Metroid release are bringing gamers back to the stars. Please join us at The Ringer as we celebrate and explore the cultural resonance and science of space all week long.
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September 16, 2017
NASA Engineer Molly Bittner Explains the Science Behind Cassini and Why It Had to Crash Into Saturn
On ‘Achievement Oriented,’ Bittner details her history with the project and provides some insight into what NASA has learned from Cassini’s 20-year journey
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September 15, 2017
NASA Engineer Molly Bittner on Cassini and Space-Based Games
Plus: Rob Harvilla explains why ‘Metroid’ might be gaming’s greatest space series
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September 15, 2017
The Man Behind the Astronaut-With-Dogs Photo You Know and Love
You know Leland Melvin from his famous NASA photo. You may not know that the modern-day Renaissance man has lived two American dreams, traveling to space and playing in the NFL.
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September 15, 2017
Samus Returns: Celebrating 30 Years of ‘Metroid’
The franchise has a new release Friday—and is still, all told, the best Space Video Game series of all time
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September 15, 2017
A Look Inside the Star-Naming Business
Naming a star, it turns out, is more complicated than sending in a check
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September 14, 2017
Shohei Otani Is Coming to a Baseball Stadium Near You
Plus: Cleveland keeps winning, Rhys Hoskins keeps mashing, and the making of the ‘Star Trek’ baseball episode
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September 14, 2017
The ‘Star Trek’ Baseball Episode Is a Timeless Look at a Timeless Sport
Writer Ira Steven Behr joins the ‘MLB Show’ to discuss "Take Me Out to the Holosuite"
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September 14, 2017
The New Neil Armstrongs
Meet the astronomer and astrochemist leading us to the new frontier—one we might not ever really see
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September 14, 2017
NASA Scientists Pick the Cassini Spacecraft’s Most Mind-Blowing Photos
To memorialize the mission, we asked members of the science team to nominate the image that they considered the most personally or scientifically significant
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September 13, 2017
The Great Elon Musk Debate
Is he a techno-hero, ushering us closer to the future? Or is he a villain dragging us toward dystopia?
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September 13, 2017
The 31 Best Rockets of All Time, Ranked
From Hakeem and Roger Clemens to ‘Little Einsteins’ and crotch rockets, here is a list of the greatest people, things, and pop cultural tidbits related to projectile missiles
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September 12, 2017
How Astronomy Got Internet Famous
The web and the science of space have matured in tandem, with no field of study benefiting more from the ability to spread its message to the masses one meme at a time
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September 11, 2017
‘The Orville’ Is Better Than Seth MacFarlane–Meets–‘Star Trek’ Might Sound
Success means that the ‘Family Guy’ creator gets to do whatever he wants
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September 11, 2017
How John Knoll’s Special Effects Bring Space to the Big Screen
The Oscar-winning innovator behind the looks of ‘Rogue One,’ ‘Pacific Rim,’ ‘Avatar,’ and other sci-fi spectacles explains how he sneaks real-life science into movies
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September 11, 2017
The 25 Best Movies About Space, Ranked
Whether a story unfolds in our own galaxy or one far, far away, space makes a great setting for film. But which space movies are truly out of this world?
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September 11, 2017
Kanye’s ‘Graduation’ Reached for the Stars
West’s cosmic third LP, released 10 years ago today, marked the end of one era and the beginning of another—for both the rapper and hip-hop at large