Giant Freakin Robot

If you’re anything like me, you’ve fantasized about being an astronaut. Maybe this stopped when you saw Gravity, or maybe the thought of running into George Clooney in space only deepened your desire. But if you’re anything like me, you have to content yourself with reading and watching Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson (not that those are small consolations), scouring NASA news, geeking out to incredible Hubble photos, and waiting with a mixture of hope and fear for the Mars One project to produce a spectacular success, a catastrophe, or perhaps nothing at all.

Well, today you can get one step closer to living the dream. The ESA has released a video documenting the return of astronauts from the ISS on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. You don’t just get to watch from the outside—you get to watch from the interior. The video comes from a lesson to the ESA’s 2009 astronaut class, and splices together interviews and reentry footage. At just over 20 minutes long it’s not a quick take, but if you have any interest in space whatsoever, you’ll not only watch the whole thing, you’ll likely watch it more than once.

This is definitely something to behold. Check out this photo, taken from space, by an astronaut. that shows the Earth, the Moon, and Soyuz, all in a single frame. How’s that for making you feel small?

Guns in space are cool when it comes to Han Solo, Captain Kirk, or Ellen Ripley, but otherwise, most people agree that space should be kept weapon-free. That was a big focus of John F. Kennedy’s moonshot speech, as he intimated over and over that the USSR might use space as a “terrifying theater of war.” Space technologies have militaristic uses and connotations, even if they’re not designed for anything of the sort, which was why Russia’s successful launch of Sputnik in 1957 kicked the Space Race into high gear. The U.S. knew that if they had a rocket powerful enough to launch a satellite, they could also launch nukes. Plus, satellites can be used to spy. That’s part of why the U.N. and other countries approved the Outer Space Treaty, which, among other things, restricts the use of weapons of mass destruction in space, as well as using space for military bases or weapons testing (“The Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all States Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes”). Despite all this, it used to be common practice for cosmonauts to have access to a gun in the emergency kit of all Soyuz capsules.

Apparently, this all started in 1965 when a return Soyuz flight landed off-course, prompting survival stories that boasted bears, wolves, and other dangerous Siberian wildlife that warranted protection. Though the cosmonauts never actually had to fight anyone or anything and were quickly rescued, the idea had been born that certain situations astronauts encounter could be dangerous enough to warrant a gun. Even after the formation of the ISS, the practice continued.

By now you’ve all probably heard that both Boeing and SpaceX received bids from NASA to continue developing its manned shuttle, the CST-100. Reports indicate that Boeing received a higher bid, though largely because their craft is more expensive than SpaceX’s Dragon. This means that at some point in the hopefully not so distant future NASA can stop buying American astronauts seats on Russian soyuz capsules for more than $70 million a pop. While a seat on the new space taxis will cost a bit more than a ride to the airport, they’ll be cheaper than that, and the money won’t be going to the folks who want to divest from the ISS. Part of Boeing’s 5-year, $4.2 billion contract (SpaceX’s is $2.6 billion) will enable the ferrying not only astronauts, but also giving rides to space tourists who are clients of Space Adventures.

Turns out, Space Adventures has been around for over 15 years and offers a range of space experiences. The company has sent 7 tourists into space so far, starting with Dennis Tito, who, back in 2001, was the first private citizen to explore space. Guy Laiberte, CEO of Cirque du Soleil and the first private Canadian citizen in space, is another. I haven’t heard of any of the other clients (Lance Bass trained, but didn’t actually go) before, but Sarah Brightman will change all that.

When President Obama announced the end of the Constellation program, many people worried about the U.S. not having a method of transport for its own astronauts. Since then, American astronauts have been buying rides to the ISS on Russian Soyuz capsules. Given that Russia will soon be bowing out of the ISS, it’s now particularly important that NASA figures out another way to transport its astronauts. Hence the Commercial Crew Program, NASA’s way of soliciting transportation services from private companies. The three contenders were SpaceX’s Dragon, Sierra Nevada’s Dreamchaser, and Boeing’s CST-100. This morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that NASA “is poised” to award the $3 billion to Boeing.

One of the coolest things about social media is the way it lets us experience by proxy something most of us probably never will directly: travelling into space. Sure, we’ve had access to videos taken in space for decades now, but social media has narrowed the distance between us and the humans who are currently orbiting high above us by quite a bit. Now that Chris Hadfield is back groundside, it’s time to update your Twitter with some new astronaut-y goodness. Allow us to suggest astronaut Reid Wiseman, who recently joined the crew of the ISS, and who is bleeding enthusiasm all over Twitter in a truly endearing way.

I can’t stop looking outside! The Soyuz @astro_alex @msuraev and I arrived on. pic.twitter.com/sUPnzaphhr

— Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid) May 29, 2014