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Astronaut Snaps Epic Star Trek Selfie In Space

Posted by samzenpus on from the zero-g-cosplay dept.

mpicpp writes with this story about astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti's tribute to a Star Trek icon. "Captain Kathryn Janeway led the USS Voyager through many harrowing lost-in-space adventures. She was the first female Starfleet captain to take the lead role in a 'Trek' series. Janeway is fictional, but she is an inspiration to many women interested in space. European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, the first Italian woman in space, took a moment to celebrate Captain Janeway at around 250 miles above Earth. Cristoforetti is currently aboard the International Space Station. She tweeted a selfie on April 17 while dressed in a Star Trek: Voyager-style red and black uniform with a purple turtleneck. The image shows her pointing a thumb at SpaceX's Dragon supply capsule."

143 comments

  1. Great pic by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Especially the decision to have the planet above her, rather than below her - helps bring home that we're talking REAL space, not TV space....

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    1. Re:Great pic by sycodon · · Score: 1

      Now all we need to do is build a real ship, not just some sardine can coasting in circles or a one and done chemical rocket/capsule.

      What would it take to build something that you can point in a direction and go, come back, repeat?

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    2. Re:Great pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Money, Fuel, Infrastructure. The usual.

    3. Re:Great pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      A new tremendous source of energy.

    4. Re:Great pic by itzly · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Nothing usual about a real ship, if that means it's capable of interstellar travel. Even nuclear fusion, which we don't have, wouldn't be good enough to travel to the stars.

    5. Re:Great pic by Jhon · · Score: 1

      ...in a really small package.

    6. Re:Great pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Atomic Energy?

    7. Re:Great pic by Aqualung812 · · Score: 2

      What would it take to build something that you can point in a direction and go, come back, repeat?

      A small, portable power source that would be several orders of magnitude more powerful than what we have today, for one.

      Get working on that Mr. Fusion and I think we'll have something more to your liking.

      --
      Grammer Nazis - I mod you "troll" unless you actually add something on-topic. Yes, I know I have mispellings in my sig.
    8. Re:Great pic by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      There's a problem with that photo: we can see the Earth. This means that Samantha is dreaming and all of this isn't real.

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      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    9. Re:Great pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      YOr a negger anD a faget

    10. Re:Great pic by tnk1 · · Score: 1

      To another planet? A straight shot would require velocity matching of the objects in question as well as matching the required velocities to enter and maintain orbit. Possible already especially if you're super wasteful like using nuclear bombs like Orion. Fusion or Antimatter ships would be better.

      To another star? To get to a close one, you'd need all of the above that plus enough energy to get to a substantial fraction of the speed of light and then back down again. That's not just a big engine, it's also a lot of stored fuel and provisions.

      To get to a far one... generation ships or FTL travel. As FTL is completely fictional right now... generation ships. Or upload ships where we are simply stored data on an extremely well designed craft that boots us back up when we get where we are going.

      Bear in mind, if FTL is possible, it may not take as much energy to do FTL as it would to get to .9c. Or that energy could be deployed in a static location, making it much easier technologically and logistically than having to fit a space-time altering thingy with a ton of energy generation in the small space of a starship. Think a jump gate or inertial nullifier or something.

      If FTL is possible, it isn't likely to be a brute force application of pure energy which will do the job. You need a principle which allows you to affect space-time in some manner to make it "easier" to get between two points. Wormholes, warp bubbles, hyperspace, etc.

    11. Re:Great pic by blue9steel · · Score: 2

      Laser pumped solar sail is about the only thing we have right now that would be anywhere near fast enough. Mostly because the "fuel" is generated at the departure point instead of needing to be carried along. It would be a huge project and frankly I don't think we're up to it politically but the science is pretty solid and the engineering is mostly there already.

    12. Re:Great pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think that was so much a "decision" as it was that the cupola (the best view on ISS) is apparently pointed Earthward.

    13. Re:Great pic by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 2

      Alcubierre drives are promising... except for the fact they act like a scoop for everything in front of them while they travel and then promptly release it at full velocity when they stop.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
    14. Re:Great pic by camperdave · · Score: 2

      It is a good picture, but I think I like this one better. It's got kind of a Michael Whelan feel to it.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    15. Re:Great pic by sycodon · · Score: 1

      A simple transport to the moon and back would be a nice start. Loft your payload, transfer it, and off you go.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    16. Re:Great pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nothing in engineering, physics or chemistry would lead us to believe that we can do anything better. It's been over half a century and everything still looks the same.

      I wonder why this is.

    17. Re:Great pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Orion, Fusion or Antimatter ships are just as fictional as FTL.

    18. Re:Great pic by Beck_Neard · · Score: 1

      Nonsense. Distance is immaterial (literally); the important thing is *time*. We can travel to the stars with current tech. We just can't live long enough to survive the journey. Even chemical rockets are 'good enough to travel to the stars.'

      Which is why the real way to get to the stars isn't through a ridiculous 600-meter space colony carrying live humans. It's through robotics and frozen embryos (or just robotics).

      We can start colonizing the galaxy *right now* - we just lack the will to do so.

      --
      A fool and his hard drive are soon parted.
    19. Re:Great pic by Beck_Neard · · Score: 1

      Fission is already pretty up there in terms of energy density. Fusion is better (and we already have practical fusion power: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... ) and antimatter is literally the physical limit, as no source of energy can ever be more dense than antimatter due to general relativity. We can produce and store antimatter; unfortunately production of antimatter is extremely inefficient due to physical law.

      What I'm saying is that we already know what the physical limitations are. We don't need a 'new source of energy', nor would one change the equation that much.

      --
      A fool and his hard drive are soon parted.
    20. Re:Great pic by Beck_Neard · · Score: 1

      > A small, portable power source that would be several orders of magnitude more powerful than what we have today, for one.

      You mean more compact and more powerful than this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... , which we have today?

      Maybe you should re-evaluate your criteria.

      --
      A fool and his hard drive are soon parted.
    21. Re:Great pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, we cannot travel to the stars with current tech. We have nothing that would be able to last the journey, even to the nearest stars. You have to considered how well a spacecraft will hold up over tens or hundreds of thousands of years. Where will air come from? Where will food come from? Where will fuel come from? Where will spare parts come from?

      If there is so much as a single flaw at any time during the voyage, the entire mission will end in disaster.

    22. Re:Great pic by davester666 · · Score: 1

      And she's smart enough to not be a red-shirt.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    23. Re:Great pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What would it take to build something that you can point in a direction and go, come back, repeat?

      Want to planet-hop in this solar system? Nuclear thermal rockets lets you do that. The engines have been built and tested, unfortunately nobody built a ship with them. See: wikipedia

    24. Re:Great pic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ol' Beck there is a 100% Space Nutter. NOTHING will deter him from his faith. I suspect that in ten years, when absolutely nothing will have changed about what we can do in space, he'll *still* be ranting and raving about immortal generation ships and traveling to the stars on current "tech". "Tech", they speak like Scientologists. Complete and absolute nonsense, but there you have it.

      He thinks a thermonuclear weapon is a compact power source, much like a dam, a battery, or a tank full of gas.

      If that isn't insanity, I don't know what is. What, exactly, about life on the Earth is so unbearable is never quite clear with these people.

    25. Re:Great pic by Beck_Neard · · Score: 1

      Why hello there, AC.

      > "Tech", they speak like Scientologists.

      What? http://www.merriam-webster.com...

      > He thinks a thermonuclear weapon is a compact power source

      If it's not a source of power, then what is it a source of? Rainbows?

      > much like a dam, a battery, or a tank full of gas.

      I never compared thermonuclear weapons with dams or batteries. You're a shallow-thinking fool if you that's all you interpreted from what I said.

      > What, exactly, about life on the Earth is so unbearable is never quite clear with these people.

      Actually I think life on Earth is quite dandy. I wouldn't personally want to leave. But all these people ranting about 'new energy sources' or 'better rockets' are fooling themselves; we do not need a new scientific breakthrough to reach the stars if that's what we wish to do. Moreover, a new scientific breakthrough would not even help that much, probably, as we already know the limits pretty well.

      Who's the ranting moron here?

      --
      A fool and his hard drive are soon parted.
    26. Re:Great pic by Beck_Neard · · Score: 1

      Building something capable of surviving a 10,000-year journey is no mean feat, I'll grant you that. But there's no reason to think we can't do it. People are already working on a clock designed to last for 10,000 years: http://longnow.org/clock/ . The technologies used to do that aren't even that advanced. Plus, most of the issues with that clock have to do with Earth-specific problems (temperature fluctuations, humidity, theft, and so on). Deep space is actually a much better environment for preserving things.

      --
      A fool and his hard drive are soon parted.
  2. Ungh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    I came

  3. The Cloud... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I love her reference to Voyager episode The Cloud. Her coffee quote is a direct lift from Cpt. Janeway in that episode!

    1. Re:The Cloud... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, what a shame the reporter completely botched the explanation of it. No more coffee for Janeway, her replicator rations had run out. Her plan was to get plasma energy from the nebula to power the replicators for coffee, not actually find coffee in there.

    2. Re:The Cloud... by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 1

      I love her reference to Voyager episode The Cloud. Her coffee quote is a direct lift from Cpt. Janeway in that episode!

      My favorite coffee quote is:

      Janeway: Coffee, Black.
      Computer: Make it yourself.

      From The episode "Q2"

      Maybe she'll pose for that one with the coffee maker aboard since she will be able to make it herself?

    3. Re:The Cloud... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I always wondered why Janeway ordered her coffee like that. If I walk into a cafe and say "coffee", they give me coffee. Stating "black" would be completely superfluous.

      Just another stupid aspect to a stupid show I suppose.

  4. OMG, not the RED uniform. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does not bode well.

    1. Re:OMG, not the RED uniform. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are a cow.

    2. Re:OMG, not the RED uniform. by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 3, Funny

      OMG, not the RED uniform.

      This is Voyager not TOS, you dumbshit Pakled.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    3. Re:OMG, not the RED uniform. by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2

      How appropriate. You fight like a dairy farmer.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    4. Re:OMG, not the RED uniform. by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 2

      Well, then again this a Voyager reference, so they are safe :)

      Then again, Voyager did end up in the Delta Quadrant ... not dead, but so screwed.

      --
      Jumpstart the tartan drive.
    5. Re:OMG, not the RED uniform. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then again, Voyager did end up in the Delta Quadrant ... not dead, but so screwed.

      It might have started in the Delta Quadrant, but it ended up in the Alpha Quadrant back in Sol.

    6. Re:OMG, not the RED uniform. by dinfinity · · Score: 2

      It's not red, you fool. It's burgundy!

      Yes, yes, I do realize that some people will take this opportunity to imply that I am of a particular sexual orientation.

    7. Re:OMG, not the RED uniform. by ATMAvatar · · Score: 1

      Yes, yes, I do realize that some people will take this opportunity to imply that I am of a particular sexual orientation.

      asexual?

      --
      "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
    8. Re:OMG, not the RED uniform. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OMG, not the RED uniform.

      This is Voyager not TOS, you dumbshit Pakled.

      MEH..

      I doubt the whole Red shirt thing in general.

      Sure in the original series just about everyone who had a red shirt died before the first commercial break and were forgotten about before the second, but if you mean to say that "If you're wearing a red shirt, you are definitely going to die an untimely death" is a universal rule.. Explain these things to me:

      1- Mr Scott wore a red shirt for just about the whole duration of the original series. (He wore a Tan/Yellow shirt in Pilot # 2, Where no man has gone before.. to contrast with Mr Sulu's Blue science uniform and Mr Spock's Tan/Yellow command shirt in that one episode.) Mr Scott was never killed, despite being drunk 90% of his waking life.. He never died unless you count the few seconds when Nomad zapped him and then brought him back to life in "The Changeling".

      2- Uhura had a red uniform, and if I can state an actual universal observation.. One did not fuck with Uhura and get away unscathed, granted if you treated her well she treated you more than well. She was nice, I would totally hire her. She also recovered well from Nomad, though the lesson there was not to sing to malevolent robots that have been modified with alien AI tech.

      3- After the V-Ger incident, all Star Fleet uniforms were red, and the varying division colors became the color of their turtle neck / dicky thing.. so I assume you died if you had the wrong dicky color. Still doesn't stand up to scrutiny.. Also If it is a rule no one noticed when they had the Star Trek : The Motion Picture uniforms.. the ones where you had to duck tape your junk all up.. What color of uniform was dangerous to wear? Was it light blue or White or Tan? Not sure. Surely you can't cheat death by your choice of uniform colors.. but.. There is more..

      4- Command uniforms in Next generation through Voyager were red.. and one can't kill off all the red wearing characters and still have a show. The universe after 1987 requires that a large number of people have red shirts on and survive to make more episodes.. the universe itself depends on it. (Q also always chose red uniforms.. and Q can't be killed with conventional weapons!)

      5- I am however starting to think that by the Star Trek: Insurrection / Nemesis time period.. someone in Star Fleet got wise to statistics and said.. "I have noticed a correlation between the general number of deaths in the line of duty and the number of officers wearing red uniforms!" and someone did a wardrobe change to Grey.. probably with some lame argument that red uniforms made the officers stick out like a turd in a punch bowl when they might be trying to hide from Borgs or Klingons or Romulans or Breen or Nosicans or Orions or whatever.. It makes sense.. it would make me change clothes.

      Personally I wonder why anyone did away with the cool uniforms the space marines in Enterprise had. Black.. can't go wrong there.. Hard to see, means business and is very slimming.. and no duck tape required on your situation.

    9. Re: OMG, not the RED uniform. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Enterprise" actually had Armed Forces consultants so they knew the stuff. It's the old dreck that made up everything - including science and engineering - but stupid nerds who knew nothing better convinced themselves the technobabble was the real thing and became addicted to it and the mirage that one day society would tolerate their deviances.

  5. Good for her! by Digital+Pizza · · Score: 1

    Really cool picture!

    Voyager kinda sucked at first, but actually got pretty good once they ran into the Borg. For some reason Star Trek writers have a history of hating women in command roles.

    --
    We apologize for the inconvenience.
    1. Re:Good for her! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Have to disagree there. Voyager kinda sucked at first, agreed, but it got far worse when they ran into the Borg. They ruined the Borg on that damned show.

      The whole point of the Borg being so difficult to defeat was that they were completely distributed and decentralized. So what did Voyager do? Introduce the Borg Queen, of course! Idiotic is too kind a word...

    2. Re:Good for her! by Digital+Pizza · · Score: 1

      No, the Borg Queen was introduced in Star Trek: First Contact; that damage was already done.

      --
      We apologize for the inconvenience.
    3. Re:Good for her! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Point taken. Voyager certainly ran with it, however. Combined with the endless time travel episodes, only Enterprise can rival it for the low point in the Star Trek canon.

    4. Re:Good for her! by bhcompy · · Score: 1

      The hive mind always needs a leader. My space scifi reading history isn't up to snuff, but at least since Ender's Game 30 years ago, it's been common for hive minds to have a centralized authority figure, either as the host/transmitter of the mind, or something else. A hive mind without a leader ends up like the Force. Interconnected but with no purpose and no direction. We can't say the Borg were without direction. They've had direction since their first appearance.

    5. Re:Good for her! by Etherwalk · · Score: 1

      The hive mind always needs a leader. My space scifi reading history isn't up to snuff, but at least since Ender's Game 30 years ago, it's been common for hive minds to have a centralized authority figure, either as the host/transmitter of the mind, or something else. A hive mind without a leader ends up like the Force. Interconnected but with no purpose and no direction. We can't say the Borg were without direction. They've had direction since their first appearance.

      The borg lacked a leader in early TNG and were a very effective enemy.

    6. Re:Good for her! by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      It took all the force the Federation could assemble to hold off one borg cube in TNG, and they barely managed. Voyager went through them like a hot knife through butter.

    7. Re:Good for her! by bhcompy · · Score: 1

      They lacked a visible leader. They had direction, purpose.

    8. Re:Good for her! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, back then the Borg wiped out, or assimilated, entire advanced civilizations like Guinan's. By the end of Voyager, the Borg were hardly a threat at all.

    9. Re:Good for her! by bondsbw · · Score: 1

      Isn't it the case that all of Starfleet's enemies tend to look weaker and weaker as each series progresses? Not just the Borg.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    10. Re:Good for her! by DaHat · · Score: 1

      Correct, the more time you spend with a given character/group the more opportunities you have to show them in a more favorable/humanizing light with examination of their motivations & history without explicitly trying to keep them looking evil & unbeatable the whole time.

      "ZOMG the Dominion is going to conquer us! Wait... it's founders faced discrimination because of their form and decided to bring order to their part of the galaxy... maybe they aren't so bad?"

      "Species 8472 is the greatest threat we've ever faced, how can we stop them? They are only fighting back against the Borg who struck first? Ok, I guess I can understand their anger"

      Pick a race on Star Trek which has had more than a few episodes of backstory/examination and you see the same pattern.

      --
      Help Brendan pay off his student loans
    11. Re:Good for her! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      The hive mind always needs a leader. My space scifi reading history isn't up to snuff

      You haven't even read The Green Brain by Frank Herbert. Maybe the modern cheese always cops out and avoids the "hive mind" concept even when pretending to use it, but there are lots of examples of real hive minds in scifi. And that doesn't mean they are without direction.

    12. Re:Good for her! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      "Help, this bear is trying to eat me, help, help, help!"

      "Calm down, he just wants your lunch. Take off your backpack and back away from it slowly."

      "Awww, I can see his ribs, he must really be hungry."

      It is an old story. Strangers are often really scary unless you get to know them.

    13. Re:Good for her! by Smauler · · Score: 1

      The Borg's adaptability always sucked. The entire notion that once you understand something you can counteract and adapt to it is bogus.

      We've had big lumps of metal fired by explosives for over 500 years, and even now, after half a millennium of amazing technological advancement, if you're in the way of a big lump of metal fired by an explosive the only thing that is going to save you is a bigger lump of metal between you and it.

      Getting better big lumps of metal to fire first and stopping the enemy from firing big lumps of metal at you in the first place is the only real countermeasure.

      All that being said, I agree with you about the Borg queen and the Borg ideal.

    14. Re: Good for her! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dreck has always been a low point for SF.

  6. There is coffee in that nebula(full version) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtmF8RRxBXg

  7. Style Points by tiberus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    +3 Style Points for creative use of her personal weight allowance.

  8. Is this a joke? by ZeroPly · · Score: -1, Troll

    Elon Musk is going through expensive hardware like Kleenex, trying to land a booster on a barge. SpaceX fails over and over, each time learning something, and relentlessly working towards success. The headlines use terms like "ground breaking" and "visionary", and 6 days ago they managed to get the booster to land, even though it tipped over.

    Meanwhile, our taxpayer funded astronauts are doing cosplay in space, and inventing "space espresso" machines. Maybe it's time to completely defund NASA after all.

    --
    Support microSD: in a post 9/11 world, it is unwise to carry your data on media that you cannot comfortably swallow.
    1. Re:Is this a joke? by Punko · · Score: 5, Insightful

      She utilized this uniform as part of her personal effects allowance. Also, if she manages to attract top drawer people to space careers, she's making the program better. It's a photo op.

      --
      If only we could fall into a woman's arms without falling into her hands
    2. Re:Is this a joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Please do fuck off. NASA can have as much of my tax dollars as they want.

      Better them than putting it towards the next military misadventure.

    3. Re:Is this a joke? by Jhon · · Score: 1

      "Meanwhile, our taxpayer funded astronauts are doing cosplay in space, and inventing "space espresso" machines. Maybe it's time to completely defund NASA after all."

      Because NASA has a history of hating good PR, right?

    4. Re:Is this a joke? by epyT-R · · Score: 0

      Most of the reason we have the space tech we have today is because of cold war era military research budgets.

    5. Re:Is this a joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The space espresso machine came from ESA. Unless you live in the EU, your taxes were not involved. And the cosplay was on her own time. Are you assuming that Elon Musk won't give his astronauts any time off?

    6. Re:Is this a joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What makes you think Musk is any less cosplay in space?

    7. Re:Is this a joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't try to tell that to Space Nutters though. Their narrative is we had nothing; then humans needed to explore a sucking void, suddenly we invented the wheel and computers because of that, and no other explanation is possible.

    8. Re:Is this a joke? by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 1

      I wonder how the crema reacts in free fall. Can they foam milk?

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
    9. Re:Is this a joke? by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      Yeah.. There's a reason the USA and Russia (then the USSR) still lead in that area, though other nations are starting to catch up. I got downmodded for speaking the truth.. go figure.

    10. Re:Is this a joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're confused. The media is reporting on the cosplay and space espresso, while the endless logs of scientific data created and the engineering tests?

      You only get to hear about them if there's some reporting or scandal to go on about.

      Seriously, are you so dense you don't see that?

      In that case, fucking watch Homer the Astronaut.

    11. Re:Is this a joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you seen his twitter profile recently

      https://twitter.com/elonmusk

    12. Re:Is this a joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then please move to Russia and show me how space did anything at all for them. The Russians did the whole space fandango for the same reason we did, German rockets and Cold War saber rattling.

      They had the technology FIRST, *then* they went into space.

    13. Re:Is this a joke? by styrotech · · Score: 1

      I wonder how the crema reacts in free fall. Can they foam milk?

      These are very important questions NASA will need answers for when we want to get tired TV producers, insurance salesmen, personnel officers, public relations executives, management consultants etc to colonise another planet.

    14. Re:Is this a joke? by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 2

      Absolutely. NASA and Star Trek have a long history together. Ask the current crop of NASA engineers about what inspired them, and I'm going to bet a good many of them will talk about Star Trek. It's no coincidence that the first space shuttle was named Enterprise. Likewise, Star Trek has a history of taking the best current theories of NASA engineers and physicists, and at least throwing around enough plausible-sounding techno-babble (e.g. the Heisenberg compensator in the transporters) to make the geeks happy.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    15. Re:Is this a joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You're right, and let me add that also the astronaut came from ESA. She's Italian, and definitely not on the NASA payroll. But this is Slashdot, so reading the TFA and not talking out of your ass seldom happens.

      [OT: I'm posting AC because I used mod points, but lately I'm observing that, as average post quality decreases, average AC posts quality is slightly increasing. Too bad that average AC post quality was very low to start with :-/]

    16. Re:Is this a joke? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      NASA can have as much of my tax dollars as they want.

      Better them than putting it towards the next military misadventure.

      No, you'll have to succeed at a long of congressional campaigning before that world exists. The one we have, NASA will get way less of our tax dollars than they ask for.

    17. Re:Is this a joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      She's an Italian astronaut who travelled to the International Space Station on a Soyuz launch paid for by the European Space Agency. Where does NASA even come into it?

    18. Re:Is this a joke? by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      I never said it 'did' anything for them or not..

    19. Re:Is this a joke? by captainpanic · · Score: 1

      Aren't we supposed to put them all in spaceship B, and send them ahead? As long as there's a bath for the captain on the bridge, it should be fine.

    20. Re:Is this a joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i simply dont give a fuck who any of you guys are, and you dont give a fuck who i am.
      who needs accounts?

      AC 4 lyfe

    21. Re:Is this a joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right, we should ignore any creature comforts in outer space and focus solely on ships to get us there because *PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTT*

    22. Re:Is this a joke? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The article is meant to laud how great it is to have women in leadership positions and to be at the forefront of scientific discovery. Yet the astronaut in this story is playing dress-up and "tweeting selfies". How stereotypically female, in addition to being scientifically useless. Did she use the rest of her personal weight allowance to bring a pair of shoes for every occasion?

      You want to inspire people to join NASA with a neat photo-op? Try photographing astronauts being competent instead of this narcissistic fluff.

  9. Oh no, she used licensed product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    That means she owes a Bajillion dollars to Paramount now.

    The Space Program just blew its budget.

    1. Re:Oh no, she used licensed product by Jhon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or she's got the most valuable cosplay star trek uniform ever. One that's actually been to 'space'.

    2. Re:Oh no, she used licensed product by dwywit · · Score: 1

      Yep. Imagine what Paramount would pay for that.

      IF, of course, the IP lawyers could be kept on a leash, and not try to seek damages for associating ST with NASA.

      Of course, NASA could triple its budget by renting the uniform out at comic cons.

      --
      They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
    3. Re:Oh no, she used licensed product by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't surprise me if they tried to sue. Note she has an ISS pin instead of Star fleet emblem, so I guess it's different enough. Somehow though I'm reminded of the episode "Live Fast and Prosper"

      Publicity like this is hard to buy. Same as the tribute astronaut Terry Virts gave Leonard Nimoy over Boston.

      I'm sure the Star Trek franchise played a small part in a number of astronauts' interest in space.

  10. What part of the ISS is she in? by bswarm · · Score: 1

    Is it a command module? Never saw that before.

    1. Re:What part of the ISS is she in? by Soft · · Score: 3, Informative

      The Cupola.

    2. Re:What part of the ISS is she in? by redcliffe · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's the Cupola. Basically a dome full of windows.

      There's no real command module or "ops" if you like DS9. Control is distributed.

    3. Re:What part of the ISS is she in? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's the Cupola. Basically a dome full of windows.

      They ought to upgrade to Linux, just to be on the safe side.

    4. Re:What part of the ISS is she in? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the Cupola is as italian as that astronaut.

  11. photo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I noticed the top is a bit ill-fitting and just a bit askew.

    For future reference, it helps if you stand, and discreetly tug at the bottom of it to straighten things out. Also, this simple motion conveys the idea that you have *made up your mind*, and that you are *about to make an important decision*.

    You're welcome.

    1. Re:photo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Picard, is that you?

    2. Re:photo by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      She's in micro-gravity. "Stand[ing]" might not have the meaning or affect you expect.

  12. Pics like this can be great to get kids interested by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    People in positions like hers have a great opportunity to encourage children.

    Hopefully there are more pictures like this that can be used to get more kids interested in Star Trek.

  13. Voyager.... by roc97007 · · Score: 1

    Why... does it have to be Voyager...

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    1. Re:Voyager.... by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      At least it didnt' have a shitty christian rock intro and a vulcan that cried every two minutes.

    2. Re:Voyager.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's all it had going for it.

  14. Epic? by nine-times · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is it really "epic"? Isn't really just "kinda fun"?

    I guess I'm an old man for refusing to adopt the new meaning of "epic" to mean "mildly interesting", but I'm not trying to be pedantic. That was just the first thing that jumped into my head. I read the headline, was prepared for something huge, and then saw the picture and thought, "Eh.... that's really a stretch to call this 'epic'. It's kind of neat and fun, and I'm amused, but that's about the extent of it."

    1. Re:Epic? by nine-times · · Score: 1

      Or maybe I'm just putting too much stress on the "Star Trek" aspect of the whole thing...? If you want to say that taking a selfie from the space station, with the Earth and SpaceX's Dragon supply capsule in the background, is itself 'epic', I'd be more likely to agree. The headline makes it sound like it's big news that she's wearing a Starfleet costume, which... yeah, it's fun...

    2. Re:Epic? by dissy · · Score: 1

      Traditionally "epic" is a literary term meaning a long story or poem (keyword: long)

      Perhaps if one considers all the time and effort required to get into space to be in a position to take such a picture, I can see "epic" being a proper description.

    3. Re:Epic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hipsters would disagree..

    4. Re:Epic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If I still had mod points you would be +1 from where you are now (ie. the trash heap).

      Thanks bro! You suck with your apt and pertinent observation. Prepare to be down-voted to the place in hell you deserve!

      Good god, I just finished watching the entire series of Voyager and yeah, well, don't bother is all I can say.

      DS9 seems to be highly rated, lol. I mean I dismissed it out of hand from the first couple episodes? Should I maybe give it a chance? A chance like I did Babylon 5 which sucked-ass from beginning to end?

    5. Re:Epic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Perhaps we can add "epic selfie" to George Carlin's list of oxymorons ("jumbo shrimp," "military intelligence," etc).

    6. Re:Epic? by mewsenews · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is it really "epic"? Isn't really just "kinda fun"?

      On a selfie scale where 1 is taken in your own bathroom mirror and 10 is with your favorite celebrity, taking a selfie in outer space with the Earth in the background while wearing a Star Trek uniform is pretty epic

    7. Re:Epic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, you'd be wrong so I guess that kinda settles that.

    8. Re:Epic? by MouseTheLuckyDog · · Score: 0

      Not when it's a character from Voyager.

    9. Re:Epic? by discord5 · · Score: 1

      Buzz Aldren: "Epic? (yawn) Call me when she snaps one from the moon."

      Now now, everyone knows that Buzz at the age of 85 can't get his rocket up there anymore without the aid of a selfie stick.

    10. Re:Epic? by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      It is "epic" in the context of "epic selfie." If you're expecting a selfie to be life-changing, that is user error. If it is the nerdiest selfie ever, that is "epic" within the context.

      And, go and try to copy her. You'll find out what a journey it would be.

    11. Re:Epic? by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      I'd avoid visiting the UK then. They tend to say "brilliant!" for just about everything that's mundane, the same way that Americans say "awesome" to describe curly fries.

    12. Re:Epic? by Jethro · · Score: 2

      That photo conveys so much. Look at it. That's all 100% real. That woman is actually in space! If you don't think that's epic, I mean if that's just "mildly interesting" to you, I think maybe you need to turn in your geek card (:

      --


      In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
    13. Re:Epic? by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 2

      Perhaps we can add "epic selfie" to George Carlin's list of oxymorons ("jumbo shrimp," "military intelligence," etc).

      Well, I suppose there are rare times when the term "epic selfie" could have a legitimate meaning, maybe something like this one?

    14. Re:Epic? by aNonnyMouseCowered · · Score: 1

      Unless you have tentacles of a giant octopus, you can't really shoot an epic selfie without a selfie stick. That or you lug around a large mirror or a very patient friend (at which point it won't be a selfie).

    15. Re:Epic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You might say that it's a perfect 10 and that all laws of physics have broken down and everyone de-evolved into lizards.

    16. Re:Epic? by laejoh · · Score: 1, Funny

      Come on, this is slashdot, you should have said: "This goes to eleven"!

    17. Re:Epic? by captainpanic · · Score: 1

      Glad to see the epicness of it all. All that material you see floating gently in that picture was shot up on giant bombs that exploded in a controlled manner, and got tons of metal and composites to exactly where they need to be, while going 7.8 km/s at hundreds of kilometers altitude... And then they installed wifi and a coffee bar in it. That is definitely quite epic.

    18. Re:Epic? by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      Me too.

    19. Re:Epic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless you have tentacles of a giant octopus, you can't really shoot an epic selfie without a selfie stick. That or you lug around a large mirror or a very patient friend (at which point it won't be a selfie).

      Nonsense. We've once again changed the definition so even that is now considered a selfie.

      http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/08/11/selfie-death-fall-portugal/13922025/

      A couple taking a photo on the edge of a cliff died when they fell hundreds of feet while their young children watched, according to news reports.

      The Polish couple died after falling from the rocky edge in Cabo da Roca in west Portugal. They were apparently taking a 'selfie' photo of themselves, according to NBC and others, though details of the events leading up to the fall were still hazy.

      A local English language news site, the Portugal Resident, said the parents had given the children the camera to take a picture.

    20. Re:Epic? by nine-times · · Score: 1

      But I like when British people say "brilliant". It makes no sense to me, but it's kind of adorable, with the accent and all.

    21. Re:Epic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's epic because it's happening in space. Space is epic. Cosplay in space is epic.

      For trying to find a reason to snark this photo, and for grammar policing, you are an epic cunt.

      I hope these examples better define epic for you.

    22. Re:Epic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow. That's the dumbest post I've read in a long time. Do you also like to suck the shit out of faggot mens' assholes?

  15. Epic? by wcrowe · · Score: 5, Funny

    Buzz Aldren: "Epic? (yawn) Call me when she snaps one from the moon."

    --
    Proverbs 21:19
  16. Yeah, but by Dasher42 · · Score: 1

    ...But what I really want is a Star Trek spin on the "space potato" video.

    Tell me you don't.

  17. Will you marrie me? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    I'm surprised, astonished even, that the internet is not full with: "will you marry me!?" or "do you want my kids?" posts.

    She is a pretty taugh woman, intelligent, good lucking and successful in what she is trying to acomplish ...

    Well, I have a crush on italians in general, so my voice does not count :)

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    1. Re:Will you marrie me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Space is kind to (vain) women, no sagging :)

      --
      Teun

      AC as not to destroy mods.

    2. Re:Will you marrie me? by Smauler · · Score: 1

      Well.... perhaps some men can just admire what she's achieved rather than think about having sex with her.

      I'm not going to degrade this reply with what I just thought about.

    3. Re:Will you marrie me? by PPH · · Score: 1

      Yeah. But that 'big hair'. Sheesh!

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    4. Re:Will you marrie me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm. Does AILF even work as an acronym?

    5. Re:Will you marrie me? by u38cg · · Score: 1

      Maybe we're just becoming better people.

      --
      [FUCK BETA]
    6. Re:Will you marrie me? by doti · · Score: 1

      Well.... perhaps some men can just admire what she's achieved rather than think about having sex with her.

      Well, I certainly did. I just chose to keep it for myself. Until now.

      --
      factor 966971: 966971
  18. Star Trek Hating Women in Command Roles by HannethCom · · Score: 2

    Unfortunately Janeway was one of the examples of this. There is no way she would have been a captain of a ship. Every time I saw any part of Voyager it was Janeway making an extremely stupid command decision. I had no problem with them having a female captain, I had a problem with her character being so incredibly stupid and annoying. Though Kirk was pretty good at doing bone headed things as well.

    --
    Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
    1. Re:Star Trek Hating Women in Command Roles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Bull, that's not Star Trek hating women in command roles, that's the network. Remember, that the original pilot had a woman (Majel Barret) cast as Pike's executive officer (Number One) and all women were wearing pants.

    2. Re:Star Trek Hating Women in Command Roles by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      At the time wearing short skirts was popular and allowing it a sign of being progressive and believing in "women's liberation." Making a woman wear pants offended a lot of feminists, it meant that to be equal they had to pretend to be men.

      And others insisted on the right to wear pants, too.

      The key thing was the choice, not some idea that skirts are sexist.

      Beware of judging these things without social context. Attitudes may have changed. The 1960s were a long time ago. The gender issue then was more about women being expected to wear long skirts that covered their legs. Being able to show them off was new and exiting, a freedom. It was in the 70s when the "Sexploitation" films became popular that feminist attitudes towards short skirts in media became more hostile.

      And as somebody who knows how to dance the Shepherd's Crook I will also say, keep your gender attitudes away from my kilt! ;)

    3. Re:Star Trek Hating Women in Command Roles by Smauler · · Score: 1

      I wonder when it'll become acceptable for male captains to wear skirts.

    4. Re:Star Trek Hating Women in Command Roles by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      With or without a Scottish accent?

      Either way it would be acceptable right now, and probably popular. But also probably less popular than mainstream Trek memes.

      Sci-Fi is hard to do well, there aren't many who try to do a serial space opera. If it was a more popular genre (among producers) then we'd be seeing male captains in skirts, for sure.

    5. Re:Star Trek Hating Women in Command Roles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At the time wearing short skirts was popular and allowing it a sign of being progressive and believing in "women's liberation." Making a woman wear pants offended a lot of feminists, it meant that to be equal they had to pretend to be men.

      And others insisted on the right to wear pants, too.

      The key thing was the choice, not some idea that skirts are sexist.

      Beware of judging these things without social context. Attitudes may have changed. The 1960s were a long time ago. The gender issue then was more about women being expected to wear long skirts that covered their legs. Being able to show them off was new and exiting, a freedom. It was in the 70s when the "Sexploitation" films became popular that feminist attitudes towards short skirts in media became more hostile.

      And as somebody who knows how to dance the Shepherd's Crook I will also say, keep your gender attitudes away from my kilt! ;)

      Have you seen Star Trek: The Motion Picture? the uniforms they had in that movie were ripped off from the uniforms from the first season of Space: 1999 and was all tight spandex like form fitting looking things (except Kirk's Admiral's uniform which Surprisingly Pike wears again in Star Trek: Into Darkness..) I remember reading somewhere that if you were male and wearing those uniforms you really needed to duck tape your junk all up.. otherwise.. it would be an NC-17 movie, having officers all running around looking like they were in Cirque De Solei or something. If that isn't sexist on the part of someone.. I don't know what is.

    6. Re:Star Trek Hating Women in Command Roles by twosat · · Score: 1

      I wonder when it'll become acceptable for male captains to wear skirts.

      It already happened, last century, when Geoffrey Spicer-Simson, a skirt-wearing navy commander, captured the first German naval flag for the British in World War I.

      https://medium.com/war-is-bori...
      http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mimi-T...

  19. Captains and Enemies by Etherwalk · · Score: 1

    Really cool picture!

    Voyager kinda sucked at first, but actually got pretty good once they ran into the Borg. For some reason Star Trek writers have a history of hating women in command roles.

    WTF?

    Star Trek didn't have a problem with it; it was just rare overall in those days. Admiral Nachaeff and Commander Shelby come to mind--perfectly believable as command personnel. The captain on the other starship in Enterprise--the Columbia, was it--did a good job and might have worked well with better writing. The actress who played Dr. Polaski could probably have done it, although IIRC she didn't get a great critical reception and she might have some Scott Bacula type moralizing problems. Patrick Stewart had great command presence; Avery Brooks had okay command presence and grew a bit into the role; Kate Mulgrew had little command presence and was given terrible writing to work with.

    Kate Mulgrew was terrible for the Janeway part, and Voyager, for the most part, was badly written. There *some* good stuff with the Doctor and with Seven, and a few good interactions between the others (Didn't they warn you about Ferengi at the Academy?), but the quality of most of the writing was least-common-denominator middle-school terrible. The enemies were neither believable nor interesting.

    Seriously, compare the Romulans in "Balance of Terror" in TOS to *any* enemy in Voyager.

    Compare any of the characters to Garek.

  20. Expect a Russian Vulcan impersonator next by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because Chekov had the bowl cut hair style, but just couldn't pull off the Vulcan Accent.

  21. Posing for a selfie imitating Janeway... by MouseTheLuckyDog · · Score: 1

    is like a female CEO posing for a selfie as Carlie Fiorina.

  22. Sense of humor by PPH · · Score: 1

    If someone has one, they'll wear a Star Trek red shirt.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  23. Cupola? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought it was related to Granola

  24. Fictional uniform in real space station by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Interesting, how impressive this looks.