My Largest Piece Yet! Turkey Tail Stumpwork By Humorii

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Arches National Park, Utah photo: Elliot McGucken

Rockets, Racecars, and the Physics of Going Fast

When our Space Launch System (SLS) rocket launches the Artemis missions to the Moon, it can have a top speed of more than six miles per second. Rockets and racecars are designed with speed in mind to accomplish their missions—but there’s more to speed than just engines and fuel. Learn more about the physics of going fast:

Take a look under the hood, so to speak, of our SLS mega Moon rocket and you’ll find that each of its four RS-25 engines have high-pressure turbopumps that generate a combined 94,400 horsepower per engine. All that horsepower creates more than 2 million pounds of thrust to help launch our four Artemis astronauts inside the Orion spacecraft beyond Earth orbit and onward to the Moon. How does that horsepower compare to a racecar? World champion racecars can generate more than 1,000 horsepower as they speed around the track.

As these vehicles start their engines, a series of special machinery is moving and grooving inside those engines. Turbo engines in racecars work at up to 15,000 rotations per minute, aka rpm. The turbopumps on the RS-25 engines rotate at a staggering 37,000 rpm. SLS’s RS-25 engines will burn for approximately eight minutes, while racecar engines generally run for 1 ½-3 hours during a race.

To use that power effectively, both rockets and racecars are designed to slice through the air as efficiently as possible.

While rockets want to eliminate as much drag as possible, racecars carefully use the air they’re slicing through to keep them pinned to the track and speed around corners faster. This phenomenon is called downforce.

Steering these mighty machines is a delicate process that involves complex mechanics.

Most racecars use a rack-and-pinion system to convert the turn of a steering wheel to precisely point the front tires in the right direction. While SLS doesn’t have a steering wheel, its powerful engines and solid rocket boosters do have nozzles that gimbal, or move, to better direct the force of the thrust during launch and flight.

Racecar drivers and astronauts are laser focused, keeping their sights set on the destination. Pit crews and launch control teams both analyze data from numerous sensors and computers to guide them to the finish line. In the case of our mighty SLS rocket, its 212-foot-tall core stage has nearly 1,000 sensors to help fly, track, and guide the rocket on the right trajectory and at the right speed. That same data is relayed to launch teams on the ground in real time. Like SLS, world-champion racecars use hundreds of sensors to help drivers and teams manage the race and perform at peak levels.

Knowing how to best use, manage, and battle the physics of going fast, is critical in that final lap. You can learn more about rockets and racecars here.

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Guy Bluford Changed the Course of Space History

On Aug. 30, 1983, Guion Bluford, better known as Guy, became the first African American to fly to space. An accomplished jet pilot and aerospace engineer, Bluford became part of NASA’s 1978 astronaut class that included the first African American, the first Asian American, and the first women astronauts.

He and the other crew members of mission STS-8 were aboard the orbiter Challenger as it lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida; it was the first nighttime launch and landing of the Space Shuttle program. While aboard, he and the other crew members deployed the Indian National Satellite (INSAT-1B), operated a Canadian-built robot arm, conducted experiments with live cell samples, and participated in studies measuring the effects of spaceflight on humans.

Guy Bluford chased his childhood dream of becoming an aerospace engineer, and in doing so, changed history and encouraged other Black astronauts to follow in his footsteps.

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Moonbound: One Year Since Artemis I

On this day last year, the Artemis I rocket and spacecraft lit up the sky and embarked on the revolutionary mission to the Moon and back. The first integrated flight test of the rocket and spacecraft continued for 25.5 days, validating NASA’s deep exploration systems and setting the stage for humanity’s return to the lunar surface.

On Nov. 16, 2022, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket met or exceeded all expectations during its debut launch on Artemis I. The twin solid rocket booster motors responsible for producing more than 7 million pounds of thrust at liftoff reached their performance target, helping SLS and the Orion spacecraft reach a speed of about 4,000 mph in just over two minutes before the boosters separated.

Quite a few payloads caught a ride aboard the Orion spacecraft on the Artemis I mission: In addition to a number of small scientific satellites called CubeSats, a manikin named Commander Moonikin Campos sat in the commander’s seat. A Snoopy doll served as a zero-gravity indicator — something that floats inside the spacecraft to demonstrate microgravity. 

During the mission, Orion performed two lunar flybys, coming within 80 miles of the lunar surface. At its farthest distance during the mission, Orion traveled nearly 270,000 miles from our home planet, more than 1,000 times farther than where the International Space Station orbits Earth. This surpassed the record for distance traveled by a spacecraft designed to carry humans, previously set during Apollo 13.

The Orion spacecraft arrived back home to planet Earth on Dec. 11, 2022. During re-entry, Orion endured temperatures about half as hot as the surface of the Sun at about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Within about 20 minutes, Orion slowed from nearly 25,000 mph to about 20 mph for its parachute-assisted splashdown. 

Recovery teams successfully retrieved the spacecraft and delivered it back to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for de-servicing operations, which included removing the payloads (like Snoopy and Commander Moonikin Campos) and analyzing the heat shield.  

With the Artemis I mission under our belt, we look ahead to Artemis II — our first crewed mission to the Moon in over 50 years. Four astronauts will fly around the Moon inside Orion, practicing piloting the spacecraft and validating the spacecraft’s life support systems. The Artemis II crew includes: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen. 

As we look ahead to Artemis II, we build upon the incredible success of the Artemis I mission and recognize the hard work and achievements of the entire Artemis team. Go Artemis!

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True story. My author/journalist/landlady took a trip to the States, met up with my college student friend to be shown the US college student life, and then pushed her into putting her credit card details into her Uber app.

Then over the course of the remainder of her trip she used my friend’s card to pay for her Uber trips until the money ran out.

The kicker to this story is that she wants 10k in upfront heating gas costs for the year because of “the war”.

Why are rich people so bad at money?

Hello! i saw your kimono drawing guide, and i have some questions. I saw this art and was wondering about a few things: what is the tied knot& tassel things on the sleeves for? and, what hairstyle is the lady wearing? If you know, please tell me! If you don't know, could it be possible to direct me to someone that might? Thank you for taking the time to answer, if you're able! Have a lovely night/day!

Hi and thank you for your question :) The ukiyoe you are sharing is by Utagawa Kunisada and titled Genji rokujo no hana (源氏六條の花), or "Cherry Blossoms at Genji's Rokujô Mansion". It is part of a three prints set:

It depicts an imaginary scenery from The tale of Genji, and the young lady playing with her pet cat is the princess Onna San no Miya.

Characters are not shown wearing period accurate clothes (from Heian era), but luscious Edo period attires. Because of her rank, the young princess is wearing what Edo princesses would, especially the trademark hairstyle named fukiya 吹輪.

You'll find below a translation from a costume photobook I did a while ago. Note the big bridge style front hairpin, and the drum like one in the back. Princesses from the buke (samurai class) would also have dangling locks called aikyôge (I also found the term okurege), but I am not sure kuge princesses (noble class) wore them too.

There is a whole dispute about this hairstyle, as we are not actually sure it was worn as such by actual princesses. This style may have in fact started as a somehow cliché bunraku/kabuki costume used to depict princesses (think a bit like Western Cinderella-types princess gowns). Nowadays, it is found only as a theater style, or worn by Maiko during Setsubun season.

For comparison, here is character Shizuka Gozen from kabuki play Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura:

As for the dangling cords, I covered those in a past ask about kamuro that you can find here (part 1 / part 2). TL:DR: I am still not sure what is the exact name for those decorations (kazari himo? sode no himo?).

But their use is pretty much linked to 3 things:

1) luck + protection (knots have auspicous meanings),

2) reinforcing weak points of garnment (here: sleeves wrist opening)

3) cuteness impact, as much like furisode (long sleeves kimono) those dangling ribbons were mostly seen on girls/young unmarried ladies by the Edo period

All the design elements chosen by Utagawa Kunisada for his Onna San no Miya stress own young and carefree she is still (which considering her narrative arc is in fact a bit sad... like all Genji Monogatari stories). BUT: bonus points for pet cat!

Hope that helps :)

Fantastic antique haori with a woven ground of suzuran (lily of the valley) and a delicate leaves caught in a spiderweb pattern

Romantic antique attire perfect for kôyô (autumn leaves viewing season) depicting small birds in turning maples trees.

The black silk shusu obi is matched with a lovely sanpogi (lit. ”stroll outfit”). Those were beautiful kimono featuring mirror designs on skirt flaps and all over patterns. I believe they were worn as fashionable day dress and were briefly in fashion in Kansai (Osaka?) pre wwii.