Awesome Space

Most of you have likely seen this fantastic photo of Russia’s Sarychev volcano taken by the space station, but even better is this sequence of 29 photos stitched together into an animation.

Buzz Aldrin records his latest track, Rocket Experience (buy it at iTunes), at the studio with Snoop Dog and Talib Kweli; best line ever by Snoop Dog: “Buzz Aldrin is so gangsta!”

“Oh, crap!” moments are part of life, but an astronaut’s work is far from trivial–this Crack! t-shirt by Joshua Kemble illustrates both the sheer beauty and deadliness of space.

Jumpgate’s E3 trailer is the latest to ape Battlestar Galactica’s tribal beats and battle sequences, not that we’re complaining: this video is literally swarming with ships in combat.

Half of this E3 trailer for Mass Effect 2 was already seen in the teaser, but what’s new is worth watching: let’s just say that Shepard is packing some seriously radioactive weaponry.

It’ll be another century before we seeing anything like this in real earth orbit, but this fantastically detailed LEGO Solaris 8 Space Station has us dreaming of sweet zero-g adventures.

Atlantis’ recent flight to Hubble carried 180 special tools, 116 of which were designed just for that mission; they included Zero-G power tools, EVA workstations and screw capture plates.

Shot at the 2009 Texas Star Party, this stunning time lapse shows the Milky Way in all its awe-inspiring beauty; it was taken with a Canon EOS-5D, fisheye lens and 20-40s exposures.

Some t-shirts are so far out of left field we have to feature them; this Abraham Lincosmic tee is the not-so-logical combination of artist ejiboo’s love for honest Abe and stars.

It’s been over 30 years since the last Saturn V launch, but this video looks almost real; it’s a giant 36-foot replica of the famous moon rocket, launched from a field instead of the Cape.

Due for a Q2 2009 release, Light of Altair is a space civ builder which initially resembles Spore; however, we’re pretty amped over the fleet battles after 0:35 in the trailer above.

The racing stripes make it look like a soapbox racer, but CMU’s Scarab Lunar Rover is all business: able to work in light or dark using 3D laser scanners, it features a 1 meter coring drill.

This seven minute gameplay video of Black Prophecy starts off slow, but the action really heats up around 4:30 and doesn’t let up; register for the space MMO’s upcoming beta here.

Looking almost like the real thing, this LEGO Space Shuttle consists of 65,000 bricks and took two Japanese builders 1,590 hours to complete; it stands 4 meters up to the tower.

Day of Darkness II is an amazing fan-made video for EVE Online; it’s the result of two years of work by player Dire Lauthris and details the heroic delaying action of a Caldari admiral.

This magnificent HD video of the International Space Station was shot by the Discovery on a fly-by; the ISS is now the second brightest object in the night sky thanks to new solar panels.

Frakking awesome: we’re digging the hot gradient line art on black stylings of this Space Junk! Tee, which is packed with references to Star Wars, Star Trek, 2001 and BSG.

Google Earth 5.0 also comes with enhancements for the other (red) planet: Mars will get nearly-live imagery from the Odyssey and Reconnaisance Orbiter as well as 3D viewing.

You’ll need a 10x magnifying glass to use Citizen’s Astrodea watches, but it’s mana from the starry heavens for astronomers: it features 1,109 stars that slowly spin in real time.

There’s nothing like naming your own constellations while drunk: Pterodactyl With A Machine Gun is an irreverent glow-in-the-dark tee with gems like “Nondescript Polygon” and “Utah.”

Fans of Space Invaders, your day has come: Rokysopp’s “Happy Up Here” music video breathes life into our favorite pixelated alien baddies, who then proceed to lay waste to a city.

A must for any retro arcade fan, Neil Gregory’s A Simple Plan t-shirt shows that all space invasions start off easily enough; just be sure you can survive the inevitable hail of pixels.

This trailer for Jumpgate: Evolution reminds us of EVE: Online, but that’s not a bad thing: more space-based MMOGs are always welcome, and this one should be out in June.