Weekend Edition: Making waves in space

This week marked 60 years since Alan Shepard became America's first man in space, and there's been plenty of action to mark the occasion: SpaceEx nailed the landing of its Starship interplanetary rocket, Crew Dragon splashed down after a record-breaking flight, the Ingenuity helicopter got itself a new job on Mars, and Blue Origin opened bidding for a seat on its first crewed spaceflight. Those stories lead our look back at the biggest news of the week. [Space]( [Sixty years since Mercury Redstone 3, the first crewed US space mission]( [Alan Shepard headed for debriefing after his suborbital flight]( On May 5, 1961, about 45 million US television viewers watched as a single-stage Redstone rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral. Mercury Redstone 3 carried Alan Shepard on a 15-minute flight to become America's first man in space.  [Read more]( Subscribe to New Atlas [Stay in touch with technology]( New Atlas has been a trusted source of science and technology news for almost two decades. We are 100% self-funded and our opinions are not for sale. Now we’re asking for your support so we can continue to deliver reliable, no-nonsense journalism – and so you can read our pages without the distraction of ads.  [Read more]( [Space]( [SpaceX successfully lands its massive Starship for the first time]( [The Starship SN15 prototype, after landing safely on the pad]( Following a series of impressive yet explosive attempts to bring down its giant spaceship built for interplanetary travel, SpaceX has today successfully landed its Starship prototype without exploding for the first time.  [Read more]( [Space]( [Ingenuity helicopter lands new job as scout after "resounding success"]( [NASA's Perseverance rover takes a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter]( NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity has been given a new mission after acing its historic test flights. The drone will soon embark on some one-way flights to demonstrate its ability to act as a scout for the Perseverance rover.  [Read more]( [Space]( [SpaceX's Crew Dragon splashes down, setting record for US spaceflight]( [Astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi shortly after splashing down in SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule]( SpaceX and NASA have rounded out their first commercial mission together with a successful splashdown of the Crew Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts onboard, setting a new record as the longest-duration mission for a crewed American spacecraft.  [Read more]( [Space]( [Blue Origin opens bidding for seat on its first crewed flight to space]( [Blue Origin is auctioning a seat on its first crewed flight to space in July]( Blue Origin has opened the first round of bidding for the first passenger seat on its suborbital New Shepard reusable space vehicle, which is scheduled to fly on July 20, 2021.  [Read more]( [Health & Wellbeing]( [Biggest genetic study of supercentenarians reveals clues to healthy aging]( [A whole genome study discovered a number of genetic characteristics unique to those who live well past 100]( The most detailed genomic study ever conducted of individuals over the age of 100 years has homed in on several genetic traits that may protect from age-related disease. Gene variants improving DNA repair processes were particularly prominent.  [Read more]( [Automotive]( [Volkswagen gives a better look at sleek, glassy T7 van ahead of debut]( [Volkswagen previews the shape and style of the new T7 Multivan]( Volkswagen has been slowly teasing the all-new T7 Multivan for weeks now, and today it provides the best look yet and confirms a world premiere in mid-June. The new MPV promises to be lower, wider, roomier and more versatile than ever.  [Read more]( [Electronics]( [Magic angle makes graphene simultaneously superconducting and insulating]( [Researchers have created graphene electronic devices that are both insulators and superconductors at the same time, in different parts of the material]( Graphene just keeps getting weirder. Engineers at ETH Zurich have now managed to tweak the overachieving material so that some parts of a flake can be an electrical insulator while other areas act as a superconductor, just nanometers apart.  [Read more]( [Environment]( [High Hopes claims stratospheric breakthrough in direct air CO2 capture]( [Battalions of carbon dioxide-grabbing stratospheric balloons operating higher than airliners are far and away the cheapest path to direct air carbon capture, according to Israel's High Hopes]( An ambitious Israeli startup claims it can pull carbon dioxide out of the air vastly cheaper than anyone else, using massive high-altitude balloons to take advantage of stratospheric temperatures and freeze CO2 out of the air with minimal energy.  [Read more]( [Medical]( [Last-resort antibiotic found to pop superbugs like balloons]( [The superbug Pseudomonas aeruginosa, after being "popped like a balloon"]( By turning modern scientific tools on an antibiotic discovered 70 years ago, researchers have unearthed a previously unknown mechanism it uses to pierce and pop superbugs like balloons, raising new hopes in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria.  [Read more]( [Materials]( [Transparent wood uses orange peel extract to go entirely sustainable]( [Scientists have used a monomer made from a component in citrus fruit peels called limonene to produce entirely sustainable transparent wood]( Scientists at Sweden's KTH Royal Institute of Technology have produced a completely renewable version of see-through wood thanks to the addition of a fruit peel extract, which also happens to make it more translucent than previous versions.  [Read more]( [Military]( [Royal Marines test Gravity jet suit in ship boarding exercise]( [The UK's Royal Marines put the Gravity jet suit to "very successful" use in ship boarding demo exercises]( Flying super-marines may soon be a thing. Gravity Industries has teamed up with the UK Royal Marines to demonstrate its Iron Man-style jet suit in a ship boarding exercise, and has released video of the results.  [Read more]( [Automotive]( [Redesigned power inverter promises range boost for electric vehicles]( [Fraunhofer scientists have designed a new power inverter for electric vehicles]( By reimagining the way power inverters relay the current from the battery to the motor in electric vehicles, scientists at Fraunhofer have conjured up a new design they say works much more efficiently and could improve EV range as much as six percent.  [Read more]( [Biology]( [Harvard gene-editing tool "sneaks" DNA into cells without making cuts]( [A new genetic engineering tool called Retron Library Recombineering (RLR) could be a cleaner alternative to CRISPR]( Scientists at Harvard have demonstrated an alternative to CRISPR – a genetic engineering system called Retron Library Recombineering (RLR) that works without cutting DNA and can be quickly applied to huge populations of cells.  [Read more]( [Automotive]( [Messerschmitt revives classic 3-wheel microcars, in gas and electric]( [Messerschmitt KR-202 Sport]( Recently the Messerschmitt Kabinenroller has been riding pavement again, albeit as a velomobile. Now, Messerschmitt Werk has revived the classic KR microcar, launching both gas and electric variants of an ultralight three-wheel roadster.  [Read more]( [Science]( [Billion-year old fossil may be first multicellular animal]( [The billion-year-old multicellular microfossil was found at Loch Torridon in the Scottish Highlands]( Scientists have discovered the fossil of what may be the earliest multicellular animal ever found. Dating back a billion years, the microscopic fossil contains two distinct cell types, potentially making it an ancestor to advanced animals.  [Read more]( [Motorcycles]( [Review: In&Motion motorcycle airbag vest with road/track/trail modes]( [The Klim AI-1 airbag vest, with integrated CE back protector and In&Motion AI-driven airbag protection, slips under your normal riding jacket]( Motorcycle airbags have come a long way since Honda first put airbags on the Goldwing. We've spent a month riding in a lightweight vest that can detect crashes as they happen and fully inflate a protective airbag in just six hundredths of a second.  [Read more](  You are receiving this email because you signed up for our daily newsletter at [newatlas.com]( (or [gizmag.com]( before August 2016). [Update profile](  |  [Unsubscribe]( Copyright New Atlas © 2021 Â