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Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

 
The First Woman to Thru-Hike the Appalachian...
This story is excerpted and adapted from The Appalachian Trail: A Biography by Philip D’Anieri, published in June 2021 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. On April 4, 1948, Army veteran Earl Shaffer set out from the southern end of the Appalachian Trail (AT) to, as he famously said, “walk the war out of my system.” When he finished at the northern terminus, Maine’s Mt. Katahdin, 124 days later, Shaffer became the first person known to have thru-hiked the 2,000 mile-plus...

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Three Kids Mine in Henderson, Nevada
The Three Kids Mine, also known as the Wheel of Misfortune is a unique roadside attraction. The mine was purchased by Henderson, Nevada in July of 2014 and is around 20 miles southeast of downtown Las Vegas.  This former manganese mine operated from 1917 to 1961 and is now a popular graffiti location. Visitors to the site can stand on the edge and look inside the massive wheel-like structures.   The site became known as the Wheel Of Misfortune in...

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Bantyii Dibiterie in Dakar, Senegal
In Sandaga Market, the bustling heart of downtown Dakar, smoke emanates from an unmarked doorway in a crumbling multistory building. Inside the dark and smoky interior is possibly the most interesting and least advertised restaurant in Dakar.  This is Bantyii, one of the best-loved dibiteries in Dakar. Dibi is Dakar’s top street food: simply marinated chunks of meat, usually from sheep but also including chicken and beef, skewered and cooked up over charcoal on basic metal grills and served...

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The Rush for Ramps Is Threatening Millennia-Old...
Nova Kim is on the hunt: for morel, for fiddleheads, and, these days, for wild ramps. On dirt roads, Kim and her partner of 41 years, Les Hook, prowl the Vermont woods. The Indigenous gatherers are 78 and 77, hailing from the Osage and Abenaki nations respectively. Kim can’t walk so well anymore, so she drives. Hook rides in the passenger seat of their sea-green Prius, the needle of the speedometer hovering around 5 mph. The windows are rolled...

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'Anmatjere Man' in Anmatjere, Australia
About 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Alice Springs along the Stuart Highway, visitors will find one of Australia’s most unique outback experiences. This region of Australia is home to the Aileron Roadhouse and its two large statues. Visitors will first see the “Anmatjere Man” standing proudly on a hill, overlooking his country, spear in hand. This statue is a popular pull-off destination along the highway, however, when visitors arrive at the statue they will also notice another sculpture...

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National Neon Sign Museum in The...
This delightful museum inside a restored Elks lodge is an educational and fun trip for anyone visiting the region. The tour of the museum begins with a short, engaging video in a recreated theater. The first exhibit highlights the history of light and signs. The next room dives into the background of neon, with some fascinating exhibits.  The upstairs floating ballroom is surrounded by a recreated mid-century setup of a downtown area complete with storefronts, historical signage, and window...

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Fayaz Tepe in Kaftarhana, Uzbekistan
Built during the 1st-century and reaching its zenith during the 3rd-century, this Buddhist stupa and monastery are just a few of many similar structures constructed in the region during this period. At the height of the Kushan empire, Central Asia was a massive trade hub and location for cultural exchanges. The Silk Road connected various Buddhist centers and helped spread the religion across Asia.  Near the Amu Darya, monasteries appear across the landscape. Around Termez, there are three monasteries...

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Podcast: Booming Dunes
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit the desert of Badain Jaran in China, home of the Booming Dunes, and possibly the coolest sand sounds you’ve ever heard. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible site, and along the way you’ll meet some fascinating people and hear...

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How to Make Taiwan's Iconic Train Bento
This recipe is adapted from a special edition of the June 5, 2021 Gastro Obscura newsletter. Some food and drink is particularly suited for travel. Sometimes it’s a coincidence, like how ginger ale and tomato juice taste way better at altitude. Other times, they’re designed to be portable. Hamburgers and French fries aren’t great after a few hours, but American fast food was tailor-made to be eaten inside a car. The absolute best travel meal is one that combines...

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Every Landmark in China Now Makes Gorgeous...
Summer means ice cream, which, for those of us willing to sprint after the ice-cream truck, often means sweet, frosty cones and cartoon popsicles. Currently in China, though, ice-cream bars have left pop culture far behind. Instead of Spongebob on a stick, visitors to the mausoleum of China’s first emperor can eat a chocolate version of his tomb’s famed terracotta warriors. At the famous West Lake in Hangzhou, visitors sighing over the romance of legendary lovers Bai Suzhen and...

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Kebun Baru Birdsinging Club in Singapore
On a Sunday morning in Singapore‘s Ang Mo Kio neighborhood, it’s likely that you’ll hear it before you see it: the gentle coos of hundreds of zebra doves, each one in its own ornate birdcage, 30 feet up in the air. Nearby, there’s the high-pitched chirrups of the white-rumped shamas, red-whiskered bulbuls, and Indian white-eyes—and the idle chit-chat and laughter of the songbirds’ owners. This is the Kebun Baru Birdsinging Club, nestled in the lush greenery of Ang Mo...

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Alferd Packer Massacre Site in Lake City,...
“Yah voracious man-eatin’ sonofabitch when yah came to Hinsdale County, there was siven dimmycrats, but you, yah et five of ’em, goddam yah.” So quoted a Lake City newspaper of Judge M.B. Gerry in 1883, upon the conclusion of the trial of Alferd Packer for the murders—and cannibalism—of Shannon Wilson Bell, James Humphrey, Frank “Butcher” Miller, George “California” Noon, and Israel Swan. Nine years earlier, Packer had convinced the men, part of a larger party, that he was a mountain...

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Ulysses S. Grant Cottage National Historic Landmark...
In June 1885 with only six weeks left to live, Ulysses S. Grant, commanding general of the Union Army and 18th President of the United States, moved to a cottage in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. He relocated to complete work on his memoirs and finished the 366,000-word manuscript just three days before his death on July 23, 1885. In May 1884, Grant lost his entire fortune in a pyramid scheme perpetrated by a business partner. Shortly thereafter...

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Ponte di Barche in Commessaggio, Italy
This pontoon bridge was built in 1976 to replace a historical bridge built in the 14th century by the Duke Vespasiano Gonzaga. The old bridge was demolished because was considered hazardous by the Sabbioneta municipality (the bridge was on the edge between Commessaggio and Sabbioneta municipality). Today, only the original bricks piers have survived. The historical bridge was filmed in the opening scene of the 1977 film Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom by the Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini....

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Fort Stachelberg in Trutnov, Czechia
From 1935 to 1938, Czechia began building fortifications on its border with Nazi Germany. Most of these fortifications were located in the so-called Sudetenland, the mountainous region between Czechia and Germany which was mostly inhabited by ethnic Germans. Of course, the Sudetenland was famously surrendered to Hitler in 1938 under the British policy of appeasement, meaning that these fortifications were never finished and ultimately never used. Nevertheless, the structures continue to stand as an open-air museum and an interesting...

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