American astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken (and one sparkly dinosaur) made history this weekend. They docked with and entered the International Space Station on Sunday, May 31, after launching from Florida aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule the day before.
This was the first time that a private US company launched astronauts into orbit. It’s a milestone. People are lauding it as a new era of space travel. And the reactions to the launch online have been both hilarious and wholesome. Scroll down for Bored Panda’s interview about the launch and the future of space exploration with Wojdas from the SpaceX Memes Facebook page. And don't forget to upvote your fave pictures!
Actor Andy Milonakis’ tweet about how the astronauts who left Earth made a good choice has gone insanely viral. It got over 3.6 million likes (and counting), 796k retweets, and got over 69.6 million impressions. It’s also now the third most-liked tweet of all time (former President of the US Barack Obama’s tweets are sitting at the top two spots). Read on for Bored Panda's interview with Andy, too.
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Andy told Bored Panda that he felt it was a pretty timely tweet and guessed that it might get around 2k likes.
"It’s insane how much it blew up," he said.
"I think it’s definitely a historic moment and I love learning about all things outer space, astronomy, etc. but sometimes I think about the money spent and how it could go towards the people in need on our planet and I always get a torn feeling about it. I’m most interested in the possible colonization on Mars and also learning more about black holes."
I don't have an AI mind backed-up by hundreds of programmers, engineers and other specialists working thousands of hours just for it, nevertheless, a team of back-up pilots, who are ready to take over the control. Oh - and cameras are all over the place therefor you are aware of a single centimetre you move in any direction.
The dollar general parking lot and my Chevy Cruze are not nearly as important
Ya know, this is going to sound silly, but I had a "moon landing denier" moment about this. I have watched Space X launches before, and I've seen many videos of the 1st stage making a perfect landing - and plenty of them crashing and exploding. Saturday, I was watching the first stage descent, then the camera cut to the "Of Course I Still Love You" landing pad. A few moments later, the signal was interrupted, cut to something else going on, then cut back to the pad where the first stage was now landed. I immediately became suspicious that I had just been hornswaggled - the first stage was actually about to crash, so the tech crew cut away, then inserted old footage of an actual successful landing. Why would they do this? To sustain the glory of an otherwise jubilant day and not end it on a downer. Silly, yes, but it ain't like the Gubment has never lied before to protect it's interests...
You are not silly that's exactly what happened
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I don't have an excuse but I really do try. After about maneuvers I finally make it. Or close to it!
I'm old. Somewhere between now and then I've lost the ability to park straight between the lines.
you know, that is the reason Why Im not an space engeneer.... Im not that good
Milonakis said that he’s been overwhelmed by the amount of attention that his tweet has gotten. He also shared that he went on a guided tour of SpaceX a few years back: “It was like the Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory but for space geeks. Amazing.”
According to Wojdas from SpaceX Memes, it was ‘inevitable’ that memes and jokes would start popping up after the launch because the founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, is involved.
“Also, I find memes as great contributors to science popularization as it will reach many young humans. And even if it inspires only a few of them to be involved in science or study engineering, I would consider it as a win!” she said about the power that jokes have in making science popular.
According to Wojdas, the SpaceX launch was definitely a historic moment. “This is the first time in history when a commercial vehicle launched humans to ISS. Such accomplishment brings excitement and joy back to humans, which is very important for future missions to the Moon and perhaps Mars,” she said.
“Many humans turn their heads back towards the sky, dreaming of space exploration. Our usual traveling via planes became something ordinary and dull. The next step would be space tourism to the lower orbit. It would also help to finance the more important missions such as a Moon base and later a Mars base.”
Wojdas from SpaceX Memes added that humankind has to go to space and create colonies in order to evolve as a species. “There are so many resources out there, we just need to grab them. E.g. Asteroid 433 Eros is known for huge deposits of gold and platinum (10,000–100,000x more than mined on Earth so far). Space is hard, but if we work together, we can accomplish anything.”
This was the first time that a US spacecraft has docked with the ISS since July 2011. The ISS was traveling at 17.5k miles per hour (that’s nearly 28.2k kilometers per hour) as the Dragon capsule attached to it.
A lot of people got emotional after the launch as they realized what this could mean for the future of humanity. Founder of SpaceX, eccentric billionaire Musk, actually broke down in tears during a press conference after the launch on Saturday. After all, we’re entering a new chapter of space exploration. Speaking of new possibilities, astronaut Hurley hinted at… Mars!
“It’s been a real honor to be a small part of this nine-year endeavor since the last time a United States spaceship has docked with the ISS,” Hurley said. “This is an incredible time to be at Nasa… new vehicles to be flown, continuing missions in lower earth orbit and then to the moon and Mars.”
The astronauts named the Dragon ship “Endeavour,” as part of a long-held tradition for travelers to space to choose the names of their spaceships. Hurley and Behnken will spend up to 4 months on the ISS while SpaceX engineers analyze the spaceship’s performance.
That's because it's a disc, people! Of course you see that curve. Also the changing of the pattern is like one of those ad thingies at a bus stop that go from one ad to another around a roller. That's also how day and night work. And when you go over the edge, time slows a little a lot or else you would get sick and everything would break. -It would be funnier to read if there weren't people believing in it. Also. I doubt flat earth enthusiasts were watching...
the riots and looters are anarchist a******s that have nothing to do with the poor dead black man.
how can anybody be so closed minded that they think the earth is flat??? BuT 5G CaUSeS CorONA Time
Spelt deceased wrong - but then again it doesn't really matter
Note: this post originally had 29 images. It’s been shortened to the top 25 images based on user votes.
How do you post on this app? And can u search on here, if so pls tell meh.
How do you post on this app? And can u search on here, if so pls tell meh.
