pavelbelyayev

[pavelbelyayev]

WHAT THE HELL IS HIS MIDDLE NAME? ALSO, I FINALLY KNOW HIS BIRTHDAY! JULY 24TH!!

[pavelbelyayev]

I am super against light pollution, and have been for decades

but I am also super annoyed by the way it's framed as "without light pollution you can see how beautiful the night sky is" way more prominently than it's framed as "hey, did you ever stop to think of how much energy/resources/money are literally wasted by having so much light shine up into the sky?"

so people get the idea that light pollution can only be remedied by eliminating all night-time light, which would make being outside at night very inconvenient, instead of by making night-time light shine only on the ground where, y'know, the people who need it are

[pavelbelyayev]

Disturbingly large number of people whose politics include not only the concept that technology can be un-invented, but that this is somehow necessary for the liberation of the masses. Which on both fronts is directly contrary to observable reality.

[pavelbelyayev]

[On the moon] “It’s an interesting place to be. I recommend it.” -Neil Armstrong

[pavelbelyayev]

[pavelbelyayev]

Source details and larger version.

Out of this world: vintage astronauts.

[pavelbelyayev]

Apollo–Soyuz Test Project by A.Leonov (1975)

Союз — Аполлон А.Леонов (1975)

[pavelbelyayev]

A cockatoo broke our rocket. :(

Gonna need a tiny bit more context here bud

[pavelbelyayev]

astronomy club sent up a weather balloon w a gopro in it last friday. put in three packs of fruit snacks so they could have a giggle over eating fruit snacks that had been to space.

balloon went up into inner space, about 90,000 feet. came down right near the dinosaur park. a few physics teachers drive out to get it, crack it open on the way home to start watching the footage.

fruit snacks are missing.

multiple sources confirm that fruit snacks were put in balloon and sealed in with duct tape. physics teachers check entire balloon. no fruit snacks.

physics teachers watch footage. all 7 hours of it. right in the middle of footage, there are about 8 minutes of visual and audio static when balloon is in orbit. no other interference with balloon recorded.

conclusions: ???????

[pavelbelyayev]

breaking news: whole world spinning really really fast and its so scary

[pavelbelyayev]

good lord this thing is useless

[pavelbelyayev]

the space race may be the funniest point in history period and i'll stand by that. the US is like "yes whoever gets into space first will prove once and for all that our economic model is superior and that we are, in general, the superior country of superior and smarter people." then the soviets just went and did it and the US freaked out and needed to cover their ass so were like "WE MEAN THE MOON, WE MEAN THE FIRST TO LAND ON THE MOON."

[pavelbelyayev]

NGC 3324, Cosmic Cliffs

[pavelbelyayev]

The Hercules Cluster, Abell 2151 // Brian Diaz & Insight Observatory

[pavelbelyayev]

Happy Holidays! I hope you all get to eat an endless amount of good food like your stomach is a blackhole!

[pavelbelyayev]

June 26, 1971: The third launch of the Soviet N1 moon rocket ends in failure

Shortly after liftoff around 2:00 AM Moscow time, the rocket experienced an uncontrolled roll its control system could not correct, accelerating from 6 degrees per second to 40 degrees per second. At T+48 seconds, stress caused the vehicle to disintegrate and the first stage's 30 engines shut down. The upper stages separated and hit the ground about 4 miles downrange from the launch site and the lower stages continued to soar through the night sky before finally crashing 9 miles downrange, creating a 50-foot crater in the surrounding grasslands.

Read more about the N1 program here!

pictured is a mockup N1 (left) and N1 5L (right)