Created by Sean McNaughton and Samuel Velasco for National Geographic, this beautifully illustrated map includes the almost 200 missions to space from the past 50 years, showing which of our celestial neighbors we like to visit the most. The National Geographic website has an interactive version you can pan and zoom around on, but if you’d like to make yourself a nice little wallpaper you can find a full-sized version of it on Flickr.

[ National Geographic - Fifty Years of Exploration ] VIA [ io9 ]

If your timing is right, it’s not hard to pick up a used lunar module from the Apollo era on eBay or Craigslist for a steal, but what really kills your budget is when you have to take in to NASA for repairs or a tune-up. Those rocket scientists don’t work for peanuts. So if you’re the DIY type, you’ll be happy to know that Haynes has an Apollo 11 manual circa 1969 that also covers the Saturn V, the CM-107 Command Module, the SM-107 Service Module and the LM-5 Lunar Module. Basically everything you’ll need if you’ve been considering a trip to the moon, including launch procedures, how to moon walk and dealing with that tricky Earth re-entry procedure.

You can order your copy directly from Haynesonline for about $29.

[ Haynes NASA Apollo 11 Manual ] VIA [ Jalopnik ]

By Jonathan Kimak

A new study by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, reports that asteroids headed for earth could be deflected by the weak gravitational pull caused by the engines of a nearby spacecraft. The hypothetical spacecraft, known as a gravity tractor, would be able to deflect asteroids as large as 140 metres in length. The tractor would position itself along an asteroids path at an optimal location to deflect the asteroid away from earth’s atmosphere.

The study reaffirms previous research into the field of gravity tractors and adds an engineering framework that brings the tractor from being theoretical into something that really could be created.

It should only be a matter of time before we go from gravity tractors to tractor beams.

[ NASA's preliminary report(pdf) ] VIA [ New Scientist ]