Awesome Space

AstroTour is like an orrery on overdrive: it not only simulates the movement of planets in the solar system but does Copernicus proud with its explanation of retrograde motion.

A staggering 50 million pixels wide, the Solar System Scale Model gives us a sense of just how itty bity we are; scroll to the right to find planets or use anchors (e.g., add #earth or #mars).

TardisTimegirl combines two legendary (and similarly inscrutable) sci-fi classics into a single LightWave 3D symphony with 2001: A Who Odyssey; warning: naked Matt Smith in orbit.

Roy Prol envisions Earth with Saturn’s Rings, above; epic win for accuracy, as it shows the rings above major cities with respect to the Roche limit and the viewer’s location. Thanks, Scott!

We’ve enjoyed Star Trek Online’s Future Past series, but this Tactics trailer really lights up the LCARS with a detailed look at space combat, ship upgrades, and personnel choices.

That’s one giant creak for mankind: Toshiba has sent a biodegradable Space Chair up 98,268 feet using balloons and 4 GPS systems; it was filmed using Toshiba IK-HR1S cameras.

Flying high from NASA’s discovery of large amounts of water on the moon? Celebrate with this Blast Off! tee: the shuttle peels back the cosmos with a sweet (almost) all-over design.

With the Ares I-X a success, boning up on your LEM skills may not be a bad idea; the Apollo 11 Owner’s Manual will teach you how to do burns, orbital rendezvous, and moon landings.

To call The Astronomer’s Dream trippy is a galactic understatement, but we’re slack-jawed over its amazing details; you can support indie director Malcolm Sutherland by buying the DVD.

Galactic Suites plans to open the first space hotel in 2012; $4.4 million buys you a 3-day stay (with 15 sunrises/day), a velcro-covered suit, and 8 weeks of training on a tropical island.

The ragdoll death animations are a bit silly, but space combat looks (and sounds, thanks to “audio simulation files”) absolutely epic in this Escalation trailer for Shattered Horizon.

Suits often have astronomical prices, but this Now That’s A Suit! t-shirt takes things to orbital heights: pinstripes pale in comparison to $2 million and 300 pounds of pressurized awesome.

Cobbled together from junk parts, Iain Sharp’s real-life, analog version of Atari’s 1979 Lunar Lander game is out of this world; it’s powered by a pair of old PCs and Sharp’s own software.

Spitzer Science Center’s When Galaxies Collide may be cheesy, but Felicia Day rocks as she dismantles the brainless Hollywood-ization of science; bonus points if you catch the Whedon quip.

That’s one giant leap for iPhone/iPod users: the NASA app is a must for space travel enthusiasts, with mission updates, pictures via IOTD and APOD, videos and Twitter updates.

The deadly void of space has never looked more beautiful with this nearly soundless trailer for Shattered Horizon; 100% in-game footage, it’s packed with sweet zero-g combat.

They grow up so fast: watch the International Space Station as it evolves, piece by piece, starting with a single module in 1998 to today’s multiple solar-paneled behemoth.

And it all started with clay and paper clips: LIFE Magazine gives us a peek at early spacecraft models and tests by both NASA and the Russian space programs in the 1960s and 70s.

One year after its debut teaser, AureaSection has released a second Naumauchia teaser in glorious HD; it’s a space combat game with up to 8 players and is due out later this year.

Thanks to its recent tune-up, Hubble has unloaded a slew of new space pictures lately; Hubblecast shows how they use a freeware Photoshop plugin called FITS Liberator to process images.

Weighing just 3 1/4 lbs, this Backpack Telescope is ideal for long hikes in search of perfect stargazing spots: it includes a padded nylon pack, 70mm refractor, and 19′ tripod.

Auto-tuning is arguably played out, but this Carl Sagan music video (feat. Stephen Hawking) is the trippiest, space-time bendingest tour of the cosmos we’ve ever taken.

It can’t beat Project Icarus’ $150 budget, but BEAR (Balloon Experiments with Amateur Radio) brings back something much cooler (albeit dizzying): actual HD video from space.