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Archive for August, 2008

Solar System Travel Posters

Friday, August 29th, 2008
Retro-Future Travel Posters to the Nine Planets Retro-Future Travel Posters to the Nine Planets

My husband pointed out this great blog post, featuring travel posters to other times and places, real and fictional. One of the artists showcased is Steve Thomas, whose solar system travel posters are simply captivating. These are but a few, and you can get them all (plus Rivendell!) in large-format calendar form for 2009! Fantastic stuff, I hope to see more from him soon!

Retro-Future Travel Posters to the Nine Planets Retro-Future Travel Posters to the Nine Planets

Dark Skies

Thursday, August 28th, 2008
A Dark Sky Over Death Valley

This APOD image from last month shows a rare thing indeed: a night sky virtually unpolluted by light (over Death Valley, California.) Above is just a small portion of this 360-degree panorama image, get the whole thing at high-resolution for maximum impact!

Astro-philatelics, part 28

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
Space exploration stamps from Udmurtia

These stamps were issued in 2001 by Udmurtia, a republic of Russia. Mostly the stamps feature various space station endeavors, with probes/satellites and launch vehicles thrown in for good measure. Edit, 12-16-2008: these stamps are not legitimate postage, as noted here.

NASA Tribute Chopper

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
NASA Tribute Bike by Orange County Choppers

Let me just state up front that I found the “stars” of American Chopper completely and utterly OBNOXIOUS… but they did happen to do a really spectacular tribute bike themed around Space Shuttle Discovery’s Return to Flight mission in 2005, STS-114.

Orange County Choppers‘ site is all Flash-based, so I can’t give a direct link to the photo album of this bike, but it’s on the third page of “On-Air Theme Bikes”, under the Choppers section on the main page. I’ve taken screencaps to show here.

NASA Tribute Bike by Orange County Choppers

The bike’s episodes are #58 & #59, which aired October 3 & 10, 2005. Minus the stars’ antics, fights and general… drama… the bike is a thing of beauty, and if these guys have one thing right, it’s an eye for minute detail. The gas tank is shuttle-shaped, the exhaust pipes (shown below, my favorite detail) are tipped with a replica of the Space Shuttle Main Engines, and the airbrush work and detailed painting throughout is just… spectacular. I particularly like the miniature orbiting shuttle “spinners” on the wheels, front and back. The gallery is definitely worth a look!

NASA Tribute Bike by Orange County Choppers

Rocket Woman Note Cards

Monday, August 25th, 2008
Personalized Rocket Woman Note Cards

These notecards are tremendous. Would love some.

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