Aircraft of Uranus, photo by x-ray delta one @ Flickr

Interesting aircraft designs – seems like the gaseous atmosphere of Uranus would clog those engines, but maybe not… as someone on Flickr pointed out, we’ll never know the details without page 238!

And yes, I realize I’m setting myself up for all sorts of tomfoolery in the comments by mentioning this planet.

The spaceship ring, by EyvindsAlchemy @ Etsy

Here’s a couple of space-inspired rings for your Thursday! I guess I’m in a jewelry mood. Normally this would be my every-other-weekly crafting session, this morning, but we’re having a snow day.

Above, you can’t go wrong with lapis lazuli (the sky, the stars….) Below, a terrific wire-work spiral galaxy for the finger. (I have no desire to learn wire—more of a stringing person, myself—but it’s beautiful stuff!)

Spiral Galaxy Cocktail Sterling Silver Ring, by 3RexesJewelry @ Etsy

Illustration by Phillipe Manchu

A final set of beautiful illustrations by Phillipe Manchu, via Concept Ships.

Illustration by Phillipe Manchu

Illustration by Phillipe Manchu

More beautiful illustrations by Phillipe Manchu, via Concept Ships. Going for more of a battle/danger theme today, seeing as there’s just four shopping days until Christmas. You couldn’t PAY me to go to a mall this week.

Illustration by Phillipe Manchu

Illustration by Phillipe Manchu

Found these beautiful illustrations by Phillipe Manchu via Concept Ships. Gorgeous, I’ll probably post more of his work next week. Too much good stuff!

Illustration by Phillipe Manchu

Art circa 1995. Illustration by John Berkey (1932-2008)

A beautiful illustration by John Berkey, later used as a book cover for the Chronicles of the Lensman Vol 2 compilation of E. E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensman novels, published in 1999 by the US Science Fiction Book Club. (Thanks to Sebastian for the info on this piece!)

They sure built ‘em roomier back in 2001. And with more padding! Only nine years ago, and look at what a cluttered mess the ISS is! What were we thinking?! Here you see the entrance to the control deck, aboard a quite different Discovery than I featured on Tuesday.

Artwork © Chris Foss, all rights reserved.

Found a couple of interesting, new-to-me works by Chris Foss — unfortunately I don’t know the titles. The above ship looks like it just had an oops had a hard landing; below, a spectacular concept of a meteor impact. (Or maybe that was the ship from the first picture?)

Artwork © Chris Foss, all rights reserved.

Outer Boundaries © Jeff Ward

I’m always keen to find new space artists to feature here, and today’s discovery is the talented Jeff Ward. His work spans science fiction, fantasy and space/astronomical, and it’s all definitely worth a look!

Among the Outer Ring © Jeff Ward

I think this one here is my favorite ↓

Spiral Galaxy © Jeff Ward

This video of spacecraft Hayabusa’s reentry is the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in a long, long time. It’s one minute of your day, and it’s VERY MUCH worth watching.

A group of astronomers from NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and other organizations had a front row seat to observe the Hayabusa spacecraft’s fiery plunge into Earth’s atmosphere. The team flew aboard NASA’s DC-8 airborne laboratory, packed with cameras and other imaging instruments, to capture the high-speed re-entry over an unpopulated area of central Australia on June 13, 2010. The Japanese spacecraft completed its seven-year, 1.25 billion mile journey to return a sample of the asteroid Itokawa.