Inverse Daily: SpaceX achieves another first
Plus: What if the future of Earth is other planets?
I sit here a little before 8 a.m. Central and I feel like $1 million. Your results may vary, but the second Pfizer shot I had jabbed into my left arm on Wednesday afternoon saw me out of commission much of Thursday. Here are a few incredible stories, including a breaking one on SpaceX, on this Friday.
I’m Nick Lucchesi, editor-in-chief at Inverse, and this is Inverse Daily. Let’s jump in.
This is an adapted version of the Inverse Daily newsletter for April 23, 2021. Subscribe for free and earn rewards for reading every day in your inbox.
Liftoff — SpaceX successfully launched its Crew Dragon capsule early Friday morning, with four astronauts on board, to the International Space Station, reports Mike Brown:
SpaceX successfully launched Crew Dragon capsule on its second non-test crewed mission Friday, setting a number of firsts as it continues to support NASA’s work at the International Space Station.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the capsule launched at 5:49 a.m. Eastern time from Launch Complex 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The capsule carried NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
Related headlines:
- SpaceX: Here’s how to attend a life-changing rocket launch
- SpaceX Crew-2: One NASA experiment could redefine how we explore deep space
- SpaceX: watch the iconic Falcon 9 landing that started a new era
35 years after Chernobyl — Two studies show how the Chernobyl nuclear accident’s effects continue to manifest today in illness and death, reports Katie MacBride:
The fallout from Chernobyl is both vast and ongoing. In 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident killed two workers at the plant immediately, and in the following days and weeks, the fatalities rose.
Today, almost fifty years later, two studies show how the accident’s effects continue to manifest in ripples of illness and death.
More like this:
The future of Earth is 5 other planets — John Wenz wraps up our Future Earth special issue during Earth Day week with a captivating read:
So you’ve gone and destroyed the planet you called home. It was inevitable. Climate change reached the tipping point. Famine and disease ravaged humanity. A noxious information ecosystem sent society into a conspiracy-fuelled death cycle.
To survive, we gotta get out of Dodge.
More like this:
- Werner Herzog makes an apocalyptic prediction about Elon Musk's Mars city
- Blue Origin's Jeff Bezos details his radical vision for colonies in space
- Life in space has an enduring physical effect on the brain, study shows
Understand the world with 9 images — NASA's Ingenuity helicopter completed its historic first flight on Mars this week, as researchers discovered distant planets and insights into human ancestors. It’s all in this best science images of the week from Bryan Lawver.
As NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter made its historic first flight on Mars, researchers made new discoveries even deeper in space during the week of April 14–21. Here are the biggest science stories of the week, told in 9 astonishing images.
More like this:
- Ingenuity's first flight: Expectations versus reality
- 13 astounding images show Ingenuity's first sols
- Mars helicopter photo shows Ingenuity's most audacious flight yet
Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada play the iconic “Sub-Zero” and “Scorpion” respectively in Mortal Kombat. But they are just two out of many characters who come alive in the latest film adaptation.
Mortal Kombat, the movie — Faithful to the popular video games but bold enough to try something new, Mortal Kombat is the best reason to return to theaters (it’s also on HBO Max), writes Eric Francisco
On one hand, the new R-rated reboot is faithful to the video game franchise in ways hardcore fans will relish for eons. Iconic characters like Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Raiden, Liu Kang, and more come to life with not only accuracy to the games, but live-action authenticity.
Lacking in the nostalgic 1995 film, there’s a real difference when the IP’s many Asian characters are played by Asian actors.
More like this:
- 'Mortal Kombat' screenwriter reveals one iconic character almost got cut
- 'Mortal Kombat' ending explained (Spoilers!)
- All 11 Mortal Kombat games, ranked from worst to best
That wraps up this April 23, 2021 edition of Inverse Daily. I would like to thank you for reading so loyally! You can follow me on Twitter at @nicklucchesi, where I share some of my favorite stories from Inverse every day. Make sure to get vaccinated.
