Journeys to the International Space Station

April 12th marked the 49th anniversary of human spaceflight, when Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the Earth in 1961. At this moment, 13 humans are currently in low-Earth orbit, aboard the International Space Station. Several were already aboard the ISS when a Soyuz TMA-18 brought a fresh crew up from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 2nd - they were later joined by the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery on the 131st shuttle mission to date (only three remaining launches scheduled). NASA recently signed a new deal with Russia for six more round-trips to the ISS, at a cost of $55.8 million per seat. Collected here are recent photos of the Space Station, its current crew, their launch vehicles, and the views from above. (38 photos total)

Please do look at these--they are awesome!

GOBSMACKED: 13 miles high

Breathtaking spy plane footage

From a friend:

Fasten your seat belt for a fantastic ride.

This video is a once in a lifetime experience of a British civilian getting a flight at over 70,000 ft. in a U-2 spy plane.

Please note at the take-off the assist wheels on the outer edges of the wings which drop off upon take-off.

The wings are so long that they need temporary support until lift-off.

What is not shown is at the landing the plane actually slows to a small enough speed that two guys are actually able to grab the wing tips and put those assist wheels back on.

The civilian getting the ride is the host of the car show on BBC shown through Europe at 9:00 pm Sunday night in Belgium anyway the name of which escapes me at the moment [Top Gear is the name].

The views are spectacular as the U-2 flies at altitudes which constitute "SPACE." It's a bit long, but it's really cool!! It's worth investing 10 minutes of your time in my humble opinion.

Use your full screen and sound as this is a high-quality film clip, 10 minutes long.

Breathtaking spy plane footage

PS: You might cry a little at the end :-)