NASA created this video to remind us that even though the Space Shuttle program is no more, our drive to explore lives on and the agency is continually working on new endeavors to go further and faster. The video itself is essentially an ad for NASA, but as a government organization, they are prevented from directly buying ad time. So instead they are crowdsourcing the funding to get the video into movie theaters as a "trailer" before screenings of the new "Star Trek into Darkness" film coming out next month. To date, they have succeeded in raising enough money to get the trailer into 50+ theaters, but their new goal is to get it into 750, including one in every state. Oh, and if the narrator sounds familiar…it's Optimus Prime.
More geek from exploring the world around us:
- The oldest star in the Universe is older than the Universe. Wait…what? [VIDEO]
- Pitch drop experiment has been running since 1927 and only 9 drops have formed since then. [WITH VIDEO]
- This turtle species was thought to be extinct, but upon closer inspection it never existed in the first place.
- You think you have a long commute? Check out this selection of world's longest bird migrations.
- Fascinating interview with Ken Goldberg, Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at Berkeley, on how he makes art out of Earthquakes.
- Speaking of art…there is such as thing as the Roomba Art Flickr Pool, pictures made from Roombas with LEDs.
- Last week was the anniversary of the Apollo 13 oxygen tank explosion. These five NASA employees saw it happen through their telescope.
- Lip-smacking monkeys in Ethiopia may be part of the key to the development of human language.
- The science of standing in an elevator: who stands where and why.
- Immerse yourself in springtime with NestWatch, a website that compiles data on the nesting habits of bird species. Seriously cool.
Now go explore the geek around you.