On July 20, Blue Origin will fly its 16th New Shepard flight to space, and its first with astronauts on board. Broadcast starts at T-90 minutes to launch. Congratulations to all of Team Blue past and present on reaching this historic moment in spaceflight history. This first astronaut crew wrote themselves into the history books of space, opening the door through which many after will pass. #GradatimFerociter #NSFirstHumanFlight https://twitter.com/blueorigin/status/1417475908215189504

We have finally sequenced the complete human genome. No, for real this time. When scientists first announced that they had read all of a person’s DNA 20 years ago, they were still missing some bits. Now, with the benefit of far better methods for reading DNA, it has finally been possible to read the whole thing from end to end. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2279035-the-human-genome-has-finally-been-completely-sequenced-after-20-years/?&&-06-01-Human-genome-se

An international team of researchers has created the largest and most detailed map of the distribution of so-called dark matter in the Universe. The results are a surprise because they show that it is slightly smoother and more spread out than the current best theories predict. The observation appears to stray from Einstein's theory of general relativity - posing a conundrum for researchers. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57244708

After the prior presidential administration repeatedly tried to cut NASA's Earth science missions, Biden's budget gives Earth science a 12% boost with $2.3 billion in funding for the year. https://www.space.com/biden-nasa-2022-budget-request-science-artemis? https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/

Initial results from a UK experiment could help clear a hurdle to achieving commercial power based on nuclear fusion, experts say. The researchers believe they now have a better way to remove the excess heat produced by fusion reactions. This intense heat can melt materials used inside a reactor, limiting the amount of time it can operate for. The system, which has been likened to a car exhaust, resulted in a tenfold reduction in the heat. The tests were carried out at the Mast (Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak) Upgrade nuclear fusion experiment at Culham in Oxfordshire. The £55m device began operating in October last year, after a seven-year build. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57232644 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/first-results-from-uk-experiment-point-to-a-solution-to-one-of-fusions-hottest-problems https://ccfe.ukaea.uk/research/mast-upgrade/

The speed of light may not necessarily be constant. Light travelling through a plasma can appear to move at speeds both slower and faster than what we refer to as “the speed of light” – 299,792,458 metres per second – without breaking any laws of physics. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2278564-laser-pulses-travel-faster-than-light-without-breaking-laws-of-physics/ https://www.sciencealert.com/pulses-of-light-can-break-the-universal-speed-limit-and-it-s-been-seen-inside-plasma https://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-all-set-to-dial-up-the-world-s-most-intense-laser-to-11

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter completed its fifth flight on the Red Planet today with its first one-way journey from Wright Brothers Field to an airfield 423 feet (129 meters) to the south. After arrival above its new airfield, Ingenuity climbed to an altitude record of 33 feet (10 meters) and captured high-resolution color images of its new neighborhood before touching down. https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8942/nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-completes-first-one-way-trip/

On May 1st, 2021 NASA published Full Frame video of Ingenuity Helicopter’s successful 4th flight on Mars for 133 meters distance. The helicopter took off at 10:49 a.m. EDT (7:49 a.m. PDT, or 12:33 local Mars time), climbing to an altitude of 16 feet (5 meters) before flying south approximately 436 feet (133 meters) and then back, for an 872-foot (266-meter) round trip. In total, we were in the air for 117 seconds.

Third flight in the history Our #MarsHelicopter continues to set records, flying faster and farther. The space chopper is demonstrating critical capabilities that could enable the addition of an aerial dimension to future missions to Mars & beyond. http://go.nasa.gov/ingenuity https://twitter.com/NASAJPL/status/1386330701218205696