All the news that TU has to offer: Star Trek, fan productions, space technology, and more! http://www.trekunited.com/news Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:32:55 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.trekunited.com/news/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.trekunited.com/news All the news that TU has to offer: Star Trek, fan productions, space technology, and more! http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1194&Itemid=80 In an interview with Wired.com, Star Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman talked about how they approached writing Star Trek (2009). Orci is a life-long fan, while Kurtzman was “converted” when he saw The Wrath of Khan. Even so, for the two fans it was intimidating to be handed the metaphorical keys to Star Trek. Said Orci, “This was not something you go into lightly... Are we worthy?” Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:54:47 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1193&Itemid=82 Officials at NASA are breathing sighs of relief now that the pen of US President George W. Bush has left his signature on a temporary spending bill that included provisions to allow NASA to purchase Soyuz flights from Russia in spite of a nuclear nonproliferation act and extended NASA’s current 2008 funding level through the end of the year as Congress continues to wrangle a cohesive federal budget plan into place (the fiscal year for the US federal government started on October 1). Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:45:42 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1192&Itemid=82 In 2007, former Microsoft executive and billionaire Charles Simonyi paid more than $20 million for a trip aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule to the International Space Station. He followed four others who paid millions for trips to the ISS, and was apparently so pleased with the experience that he’s decided to pay another $30 million to become the first two-time space tourist. Both of Simonyi’s flights were booked through Virginia-based Space Adventures. Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:40:46 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1191&Itemid=81 ENN Exclusive: Interview with anti-war activist Sarah BensonAkuba Mansa - Earth News NetworkFebruary 23, 2157Almost as soon as rumors of a war with the Romulans began, a strong anti-war movement rose to challenge the idea. When Prime Minister Samuels officially declared war, the movement blossomed into a major force throughout human culture, with protests taking root in cities across Earth and on far-flung human colonies. From the beginning, Sarah Benson has been at the head of the charge against war, and her name and face are now recognized across the Coalition of Planets. Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:10:37 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1190&Itemid=82 On Monday evening the end came for the ESA’s first cargo ship. The Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle plunged into the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean in a destructive reentry that burned up most of the craft and left only a few dozen small fragments of the ship to fall into the uninhabited waters. The fiery plunge was caught on video by two NASA airplanes contracted by the ESA to collect data on the reentry, as well as data gathered by imagers aboard the International Space Station as it traveled overhead. The reentry marked the end of a successful premiere... Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:37:14 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1189&Itemid=79 It is estimated that one out of every 150 children born today will suffer from some form of autism, a disease that is still not fully understood by doctors. Our own former administrator Mark Williams (you may know him as FatHeadCookie) is the father of such a child. Autism is characterized by its varied impairment of social interaction and communication and is usually diagnosed in children younger than three years old. Hoping to help raise awareness of autism and autism research, Mark is holding a charity raffle of two valuable Star Trek collectibles, with all proceeds going towards the Autism... Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:00:42 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1188&Itemid=82 With two space shuttle poised on the launch pad, the planned October mission to service the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope has been pushed back to next year following a failure of the telescope’s command and data systems. The breakdown does not prevent Hubble from orienting itself towards targets, once oriented the telescope cannot take pictures or transmit data back to Earth. Complicating the breakdown is the fact that NASA had planned to launch the space shuttle Atlantis on a servicing mission in less than two weeks. Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:28:42 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1187&Itemid=82 After three failed launch attempts, SpaceX’s two-stage Falcon 1 rocket finally made it into orbit, marking the first time that a private enterprise has launched its own orbital craft. Founded by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, SpaceX has for six years been lining up financing for its continued operations, even in the face of repeated failures. The 21-meter (68-ft) rocket carried a 165 kg (364 lb) dummy payload to an orbit between 500 and 700 km (312-437 mile) above the Earth. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:11:28 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1186&Itemid=80 As a famous amphibian once said, it’s not easy being green. What’s even harder, though, is reinventing green, while still being green. That’s the challenge that Zachary Quinto faced when he took on the role of Spock, with decades of backstory and the iconic performance of Leonard Nimoy looming large before him. As with all the other actors in Star Trek (2009), he was faced with a choice: imitate or reimagine - the production’s favorite word. Quinto took the path of reimagining, making Spock his own while still paying homage to the origins of the character. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:35:49 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1185&Itemid=80 Widely regarded as one of - if not the - worst of the franchise, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was panned by even Gene Roddenberry himself. Directed by William Shatner, the film delves into Spock’s apparently psychotic brother and the search for god and Eden. Or Sha Ka Ree, if you prefer. With what could have been an interesting premise - the search for god - The Final Frontier was still marred by all variety of shortcomings. Rocket boots, shuttle-catching nets, row row row your boat to the question: how would you change Star Trek V: The Final Frontier?... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:10:03 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1184&Itemid=82 Facing the likelihood of being locked out of the International Space Station for lack of ability to actually get to it, opposition has softened in the US House of Representatives to extending a NASA exemption from a nuclear nonproliferation act targeting Russia, allowing the space agency to purchase rides aboard Russia’s Soyuz space capsule to the ISS. The Senate has also approved an increased NASA budget for next year, up nearly 17% from 2008. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:22:59 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1183&Itemid=82 This week China successfully launched the nation’s third manned spaceflight, a three astronaut orbital trip that included the nation’s first spacewalk. The Shenzhou 7 craft launched on Thursday, September 23rd the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Chinese province of Gansu. The crew rode the 62 meter (200 ft) tall Long March 2F into orbit, five years after China’s first manned flight. Shenzhou 7 was crewed by Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming, and Jing Haipeng; all three are 42-year-old Chinese fighter pilots. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:37:05 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1182&Itemid=82 Opportunity, the little rover that could, just recently climbed up out of Victoria Crater on Mars after spending two years studying the large crater Now, its setting a course for a crater 20 times the size of Victoria: Endeavour Crater. Endeavour is eleven km (seven miles) to the southeast of Victoria, a distance equal to the total mileage Opportunity has racked up since landing on Mars in January 2004. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:55:26 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1181&Itemid=82 The International Astronomical Union is welcoming a new dwarf planet into the league of dwarf planets: Haumea. Previously known as 2003 EL61, the football-shaped dwarf planet is about 2000 km long – as long as Pluto is wide - but only weighs in at a third of Pluto’s mass. Haumea is composed almost entirely of rock with a crust of pure ice. It is joining Ceres, Pluto, Eris, and Makemake as our solar system’s dwarf planets. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:15:43 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1180&Itemid=80 Green girls in Star Trek mean one thing and one thing only: Orion slave girls. Keep your pants on boys, as model and actress Diora Baird has revealed in an interview with Maxim Magazine that she was cast as “the green girl” in the upcoming Star Trek film. Asked to elaborate (you’re an alien?), Baird said, “I would assume so - unless I was born with a skin disease. In the original series, there were these infamous green women that Captain Kirk would hit on, and so without giving too much away, I’m one of those green girls.” Baird is... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:30:50 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1179&Itemid=82 Weighing in at 116 times the mass of the sun - that’s 254,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons - coming close to the theoretical limit of 150 solar masses (at which point gravity would not be strong enough to keep the hydrogen and helium in close). The next closest star hardly comes close, at just 89 solar masses. And they are brother and sister, gravitationally bound to each other. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:04:08 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1178&Itemid=82 Sitting on its three spindly legs since landing in the Martian arctic on May 25th, the Phoenix Lander’s mission has been extended again into December. The lander has performed the most detailed analyses of the Martian soil and has for the first time verified the presence of water ice on the red planet. This is the second time that the Phoenix mission has been extended, and probably will be the last. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:41:10 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1177&Itemid=80 In the latest series of the Star Trek Online team’s Ask Cryptic, the programmers behind the game have answered a series of questions on everything from the customization of ships and personnel as well as tackling the important issue of player vs. player interaction. We’ll break it down for you after the break into regular person speak. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:34:46 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1176&Itemid=80 Bryan Fuller, who wrote for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, is calling for a return of Star Trek to the small screen, just as it prepares for a nostalgic return to the silver screen and just three and a half years after Star Trek: Enterprise was cancelled. “I would love to do another Star Trek series,” Fuller said, “One where you could go back to the spirit and color of the original Star Trek, because somehow, it got colder over the years. I love Next Generation, but it’s a little cooler and calmer than the ones... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:48:37 +0100 http://www.trekunited.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1175&Itemid=80 Considered by many to be one of, if not the, best Star Trek film, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was the mark to which the writers of Star Trek (2009) set to reach. Asked by IESB.net, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman said that they were most influenced by 1982’s Wrath of Khan. I can’t phrase it much better than that - the Trek-segment of their interview is after the break. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:15:51 +0100