Jezebel: Space

16-Year-Old Girl Sends MIT Admission Letter on a Jaunty Space Mission

Doug Barry — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:20:00 EST

What did you do with your college acceptance letters that you no doubt received at the tardy age of 18? Frame them? How utterly terrestrial of you. 16-year-old Erin King, answering the challenge to "hack" the cardboard tube that MIT sealed her Early Action admission letter in, sent it to near-space on a balloon, thus proving that all those model rockets I built with my dad when I was little were essentially kits for people MIT would consider "challenged." More »

Fran Drescher Swears She Was Abducted by an Alien

Cassie Murdoch — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:00:00 EST

We all thought Fran Drescher was from Queens, but it turns out she might actually be from another planet—or at least she traveled to one briefly. She honestly believes that she and her ex-husband, Peter Marc Jacobson, have something very interesting in common: More »

Newt Gingrich Wants to Build a Second America on the Moon

Cassie Murdoch — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:45:00 EST

Hey, everybody, have you heard the good news? If Newt Gingrich is elected president, we can all go live on the moon! Cool…wait, what? Yep, here's what the man said earlier today: More »

Our Favorite Mortician Reveals What Happens to Corpses in Space

Dodai Stewart — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:10:00 EST

This week, our pal Caitlin gets some help from Mary Roach, author of Stiff, as she talks about space burials. We also learn the best way to cremate someone who is obese, and whether or not it's cool to ask a funeral director for a lock of hair from a deceased loved one. Pour yourself a cup of tea and get comfortable: It's episode five of Ask A Mortician! More »

Meet Your Space Twin

Dana Zemack — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:50:00 EST

Dana Zemack has been making stick figure comics since she was 12. This week, she made one just for us. More »

NASA To Tackle Important Space-Cookie Question

Dana Zemack — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 17:30:00 EST

Dana Zemack has been making stick figure comics since she was 12. This week, she made one just for us. More »

Feds Bust Rogue Grandmother For Selling 'Moon Dust' At Denny's

Doug Barry — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:25:00 EDT

CBS News reports that 74-year-old Joann Davis was nabbed in sting operation when she tried to sell moon dust to undercover government agents at a California Denny's. "Moon dust" here isn't some pithy senior citizen slang for meth but an actual piece of moon rock encased in a paperweight that Davis claims her husband, a "space engineer" gave her forty years ago. In an effort to sell the rock to raise some extra money, Davis contacted NASA in the hopes that the government agency could help her find a buyer. That's when federal agents, who suspected Davis was trying to peddle stolen government property, closed in on the wily intergalactic bandit. More »

Some Dude Is Sending A Vibrator Into Space

Dodai Stewart — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:25:00 EDT

Folks expect a certain kind of behavior when your name is David "SexToy Dave" Levine. And so Levine, the CEO of a leading Internet adult product distributor, is leading a team that will launch the first vibrator into space. More »

Finally, You Can Get A Hotel Room In Space

Lane Moore — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 15:10:00 EDT

Talk about getting seriously, seriously away from it all. More »

Watch NASA's Final Shuttle Launch

Whitney Jefferson — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EDT

Moments ago, NASA sent Atlantis and its four astronauts into the final space shuttle mission after over 30 years of space exploration. It's hard to believe that the STS-135 mission is the last — but oh, was it beautiful to watch. More »

Iran Sending Monkey To Space

Anna North — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:30:00 EDT

As part of its budding space program, Iran will soon be sending a monkey to space. More »

NASA Announces Shuttle Launch Delay

Anna North — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:43:41 EDT

NASA has announced that the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, originally scheduled for this afternoon, has been pushed back at least 48 hours. Via Twitter, the space folks pointed to a problem with the "Auxiliary Power Unit 1 heaters." But we figure the royal wedding is probably to blame somehow. More »

Boning in the Cosmos

Lauri Apple — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 16:35:08 EST

A cosmological study about "Sex on Mars" discusses the potential future of space copulation, including baby-making on Mars. Apparently NASA's got no firm morality-based opinions on space sex, so if you've got a space shuttle and condoms then go ahead. More »

Seeing Stars

Anna Holmes — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:10:00 EDT

[Zvezda Service Module, 200+ miles above Earth; April 7. Image via NASA]

Mission Statement

Anna Holmes — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:10:00 EDT

[Cape Canaveral, Florida; April 5. Image via AP]

This Monkey's Gone To Heaven

Margaret Hartmann — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:20:00 EST

Russian scientists have revealed plans to send a monkey to Mars along with a robot caretaker. They considered sending Cosmonauts, but the 18-month trip may involve exposure to dangerous cosmic rays so they're sending an ape instead. [Telegraph] More »

Dodgers CEO Fired By Her Husband • Earhart's Scarf Goes On Space Flight

Margaret Hartmann — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:40:00 EDT

• Jamie McCourt, baseball's highest-ranking woman, has been fired from her position as the Dodgers' chief executive by her estranged husband Frank McCourt, who is the team's owner. Now she's believed to be trying to regain control of the team. More »

And Today, We Bombed The Moon.

LatoyaPeterson — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:20:00 EDT

Well, it was more of a crash than a bombing, and we didn't really get to see anything yet, but in a few weeks, we may find water! In other news, the Mooninites flipped us the bird. [Washington Post] More »

China Selects First Female Astronaut Candidates

Margaret Hartmann — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:40:00 EDT

China has selected 15 female and 30 male air force pilots as astronaut candidates. The country completed its first spacewalk last year, and its first two female astronauts (along with five men) will attempt three more missions by 2012. [AP] More »

Snoopy Celebrates 40th Anniversary Of Lunar Mission

Margaret Hartmann — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:40:00 EDT

Charles Schulz's family has donated a Snoopy statue to Florida's Kennedy Space Center to commemorate the 40th anniversary of a lunar module named for Schulz's character entering the moon's orbit during the Apollo 10 mission. More »

Teddies In Space • Australia Allows Singles & Lesbians A Shot At Fertility

Maria — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:30:00 EST

• British schoolchildren got to send four teddy bears into space for two hours and nine minutes on Monday as part of a project with Cambridge University's spaceflight student club. • A 38-year-old man in Ohio claims to have accidently shot his estranged wife (whom he has previously assaulted) after the couple had sex. • Although unusual baby names are popular with celeb couples, a new survey reports that traditional baby names are still the top choices for American parents. • More »

Women In Space

Maria — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:40:00 EDT

With Thursday's launch of the Shenzhou VII spaceship, China has now put six men in space... but no women. Yang Liwei, former astronaut and deputy director of the China Astronaut research and Training Center, says that female astronauts have not "been put on schedule" as of yet for the Chinese space program but that they are currently doing pre-research programs for female astronauts. He adds that "there is no problem with Chinese women becoming astronauts." If so, what's the hold up? Everyone should get a chance to slip into those awesome 1950s B-movie era spacesuits and be shot into space with the rest of their comrades. [Reuters] More »

"Maybe That's A Way Of Killing 'Em…"

Moe — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT

So, despite "escalating tensions" between our country and The Iran, trade between the two nations is on the up and up, according to a new analysis that shows that, among other things, the Iranians have invested in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of American "aircraft launching gear" and "military rifles". (Also, bras. And bull semen.) But spinmaster John McCain is a whiskey glass half full sorta guy. Pointing to American cigarette exports to Iran, which have risen tenfold in recent years, he said the words in our headline, to which we can only say — given his party's historic tendency to deem the notion that cigarettes cause cancer to be just south of "astrology" on the credibility spectrum —You've Come A Long Way, Baby! The follow-up joke was even better though. That and Formula One sadomasochism, Bin Laden's teen heartthrob heir, the War Powers Act, Ashley Alexandra Dupre's switch from politics to reality television and that Real World guy who is running for congress, space sex and 92 other stories read listlessly by yours truly and the lovely Megan after the jump. More »

Mr. Winehouse Woulda Said, "No, No, No."

amparry — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:00:00 EDT

Apparently, many men are still following that archaic, women-as-property tradition of asking their future-father-in-laws for "permission' to marry their girlfriends. Something tells us Amy Winehouse's partner-in-crack-addiction, Blake Fielder-Civil, did not. [Salon]