I am a software developer and a science enthusiast. I was graduated from the Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Computer Engineering. In the past, I worked at the Istanbul Technical University Science Center as a science instructor. I write about the planet Earth and science on this website, ourplnt.com. I am also an animal lover! I take care of stray cats & dogs. This website's all income goes directly to our furry friends. Please consider supporting me on Patreon, so I can help more animals!
The Earth is getting full of waste, pollution, and garbage. Yes, the world should focus on recycling and reducing waste, but, the truth is that it’s just not that easy, and in fact, we’re not doing well so far. So, why not shoot the Earth’s garbage into space, or even better, into the Sun?
Experts are called “experts” for very good reasons.
American astronaut Wally Funk (born February 1, 1939) became the oldest person to fly in space, breaking a 23-year record held by the fellow American John Glenn (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016). Glenn was 77 years old when he went to space with Space Shuttle Discovery (mission STS-95, launched on 29 October 1995).
82-year-old Funk set this record on Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft. As of 2021, she remains the only member of the Mercury 13 (see notes 1) to have traveled to space. Only two members of Mercury 13 are still alive, the other being Nora Jessen.
As global warming accelerates in recent decades, extreme heat waves have become more frequent. In the summer of 2021, record temperatures are recorded in North America, with Canada and the states in the northwestern United States have reported hundreds of deaths from a heat dome.
Today, On July 11, 2021, a new era in space tourism just opened up: by having flown its founder, Richard Branson, the British American spaceflight company Virgin Galactic became the first spaceflight company to independently launch a paying civilian into outer space using the 50-mile high definition of outer space (see notes 1). Former Canadian astronaut and the former commander of the International Space Station Chris Hadfield has decorated Branson with an Astronaut Badge.
Humans can live up to 100+ years – which is pretty remarkable. But, some animals even outlive us. Here are the top 10 longest-living animals in the world.
A very worrying The Simpsons meme about global warming. Jokes are sometimes hit hard.
Zhurong, the China National Space Administration’s Mars rover sent a historic selfie from the surface of the red planet: the rover went forward, placed a camera on the ground, and went back towards the Tianwen-1 lander for an amazing group photo – quite an effort!
On December 25, 2020, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft pointed its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager in the direction of its predecessor, the Voyager 1 spacecraft, and photographed its location from the Kuiper Belt. Launched on September 5, 1977, Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object and the first spacecraft to actually leave the solar system.
In fact, according to NASA, Voyager 1 itself is about 1 trillion times too faint to be visible in the image taken by New Horizons, its location is known precisely due to NASA’s radio-tracking (see: how far can Voyager 1 go before we lose contact?). As of April 2021, it is more than 152 astronomical units (AU, see notes 1) from the Sun.
On June 3, 1965, NASA astronaut Edward Higgins White II (November 14, 1930 – January 27, 1967) made history and executed the United States’ first spacewalk during the Gemini 4 mission. The first US spacewalk lasted 23 minutes, beginning over the Pacific Ocean and ending over the Gulf of Mexico.