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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.

 
Leiston Abbey in Leiston, England
A silent witness to the evolution of religious life and architectural prowess, Leiston Abbey was a religious house dedicated to St Mary and home to Canons Regular following the Premonstratensian rule. Founded by the Chief Justiciar to King Henry II Ranulf de Glanville, St. Mary de Insula was established on a marshland isle. However, due to frequent flooding in the 1300s, a decision was made to relocate and rebuild the abbey where it currently resides. Considered a monumental task,...

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These Stuffed, Fluffy Bagels Are Taking China...
“There are so many bagel shops right now,” says Shanghai-based food writer and photographer Rachel Gouk. “We only had maybe two bagel shops for the past ten years, and all of a sudden they’re everywhere.” In 2023, Gouk wrote about her trip to New York Bagelous Museum, a Shanghai bakery she refers to as “not from New York, not a museum, not bagels.” The ring-shaped breads at this and other bagel shops in Shanghai are more like a...

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Statue of Liberty Replica in Harlan, Kansas
If America is truly the Land of Liberty, then one of the best demonstrations of that virtue can be found in a roadside park along a barren stretch of Highway 281 near the town of Harlan, Kansas. Here, a miniature version of the Statue of Liberty, rising nearly 8 ½ feet tall, stands proudly over a windswept prairie, with little else in sight. For those who are ready to rush to one of the nation’s most remote locations to...

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Podcast: A Daring Story of Freedom with...
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, historian and author Edda L. Fields-Black tells us the fascinating and action-packed story of one of the most daring spy operations and raids of the entire Civil War—led by Harriet Tubman. 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...

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First Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana
Columbus, Indiana, is a city of just over 50,000 people located in the southern part of the state about 45 miles (75 km) from Indianapolis. At first, Columbus may seem like an average city, but Columbus is a haven for modern architecture filled with innovative and unusual buildings. The modernist architecture movement started in Columbus with the First Christian Church, which is located within the city’s downtown area. The church was designed by Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen and his...

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The Birthplace of Banoffi Pie in Jevington,...
Banoffee, or Bannofi, Pie was supposedly first created by Nigel Mackenzie and Ian Dowding at the Hungry Monk Restaurant in Jevington, where there is a blue plaque commemorating the invention. Beginning with an American recipe for “Coffee Toffee Pie”, Mackenzie and Dowding, owner and chef of the Hungry Monk respectively, adapted this pie, creating their soft toffee by boiling an unopened can of condensed milk for several hours. They then began experimenting with adding fruit, after apples and oranges proved unsuccessful,...

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Cocaine Bear in Lexington, Kentucky
In 2016, a Lexington, Kentucky, gift shop unveiled a taxidermied black bear that had been recovered by the store’s co-owners, Whitt Hyler and Griffin VanMeter. It wasn’t just any taxidermy bear—this is Cocaine Bear. In 1985, this bear overdosed on cocaine dropped by a drug smuggler in Chattahoochee, a story that inspired a movie almost 40 years later.   The story goes back to 1985, when a black bear was found dead in the woods after eating roughly $15 million...

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Self-Tribute Stone of 'Bagga-Sven' in Ballingslöv, Sweden
Sven Persson (1861-1928), a self-assured goat farmer known as “Bagga-Sven” or “Baggen” (“The Ram”), left behind a legacy that defies convention. In 1906, he inscribed a tribute to himself on a naturally flat upright stone near his cottage in the forest outside Ballingslöv in southern Sweden. The immodest inscription reads: “Memory of Laborer Sven Persson, The Wisest in the Christian Religion and the Greatest Astronomer in the World.” Alongside his role as a shepherd, Sven also wrote three self-published books, notably...

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The Sewer Drain from “IT” in Bangor,...
The 1986 novel It by Stephen King is not only a classic, but a cultural phenomenon. As many people know, Bangor, Maine was the inspiration for the fictional town of Derry where the novel takes place. The prolific writer famously lived in a Victorian house in the town for years.  However, most people do not know is that the terrifying opening scene where Georgie is attacked by the evil Pennywise is based on a real location. If you go to the...

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'The Gumball Machine' in Wilmington, Delaware
A favored sight in the waiting rooms of doctor’s offices and lobbies of laundromats, the coin-operated gumball machine has fallen on hard times of late. In Wilmington, Delaware, however, there’s still one place to get your nostalgic gumball fix–a utility box in the hip Trolley Square neighborhood. Trolley Square skews young and hip, with a bustling restaurant and nightlife scene. Also known as Forty Acres, the origin of the area’s name dates back to the 1850s, when the Wilmington...

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Missouri’s One-Of-A-Kind Restaurants Offer Delicious Cuisine and...
In the small town of Palmyra, Missouri, northwest of Hannibal (the hometown of Mark Twain), a historical property has taken on new life as Cole’s Hearth Room. Now an elevated American restaurant, the Hearth Room was a farmstead whose original barns and silo were built in 1846. During the Civil War, gurneys filled the halls of the main building so the home could function as a hospital. When the farm’s owners lost the home during the Great Depression, the...

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10 of the Weirdest, Wildest Museum Stories...
This story is excerpted and adapted from Bob Eckstein’s Footnotes from the Most Fascinating Museums: Stories and Memorable Moments from People Who Love Museums, published in May 2024 by Princeton Architectural Press. All rights reserved. Museums are reflections of everything we’ve created and accomplished up until now on this planet. These are really giant selfies. While researching museums, I heard literally hundreds of stories from museum lovers, museum curators, and tourists. Here are my top 10 weirdest and most...

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Youzihu in Green Island, Taiwan
Located southeast of Taiwan’s mainland is Green Island, a small island about a fourth the size of Manhattan. The island’s natural beauty has long made it a famous destination for Taiwanese vacationers. History buffs are also attracted by the Green Island Human Rights Culture Park and Museum, which commemorates the island’s past as a prison and reeducation camp for political dissidents during Taiwan’s White Terror. But people have lived on the island for centuries. Long before Chiang Kai-chek sent suspected...

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Podcast: A Rogue Trip with Amir Siraj
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we catch up with Amir Siraj—friend of the show, scientist, and world wanderer—who visited a new observatory in a Chilean desert that could help his search for rogue planets. Check out other episodes we’ve done Amir here and here. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take...

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