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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.

 
7 Crazy True Stories About the Victorian...
We can’t seem to get enough of the Victorian Era, and the denizens of that mid- and late-19th century period that saw fascinating changes in science and society. Our obsession with everything from their fashion sense to their prudery has led to countless wondrous stories. Some are mere historical embellishment (you’ve heard about those “sexy” furniture legs?) but other wacky tales are all-too-true. Here’s a collection of our favorites from the Atlas Obscura archives. Clearing Up Some Myths About...

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How Alligators and Humans Became Friends—Kind Of
Inside New Orleans’s Great American Alligator Museum, visitors’ emotions can run the gamut—from spine-chilling apprehension to warm-and-fuzzy affection. “Many people come into the museum and marvel at Fideaux, our 14-foot taxidermy alligator who greets visitors with a wide toothy grin as they enter the main gallery, saying, ‘That’s a dinosaur!’” says Liz McDade, co-owner of the museum. “And then as they take a few more steps inside, we hear people talking about ‘Killer’—our baby alligator [part of Louisiana’s conservation...

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Where Did Humans Evolve? (Probably Not Where...
Drive west about two hours from the vibrant souks of Marrakech and you will reach the small village of Tlet Ighoud. The rural community stretches along the intersection of two narrow, minor highways. If you follow one of them north for a couple miles, you’ll find an old pit from an abandoned mining operation. In this arid region, the site’s tumble of red and orange rocks seems like nothing special, but it was here, more than 60 years ago,...

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Brister Freeman Homestead Site in Concord, Massachusetts
Not far from Walden Pond, where Henry David Thoreau lived for two years in a cabin he built along its shore, sits a solitary stone that tells a story about another man. It’s a story that many have never heard, even though Thoreau himself wrote about it, though briefly. The stone commemorates the life of Brister Freeman. Brister Freeman was born Brister Cuming in Concord around 1744 and spent roughly the first 25 to 30 years of his life as...

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Sul Ross Desk in Alpine, Texas
In 1979, three students at Sul Ross State University decided they needed a spot away from campus to study. And why not grind on those exam reviews with a view? So Jim Kitchen, Bill Wagner, and Travis Miller carted a desk up to the top of Hancock Hill, north of campus. They would spend their afternoons and evenings studying at this spot and taking in the great views offered by the west Texas sun and expansive plains and mountains...

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House of the Singing Winds in Nashville,...
Every year, tourists from across the state flock to Brown County for its natural beauty and historic, artsy feel, especially in the fall. This landscape has drawn artists from around the country, and in the early 20th century it became home to a collective of painters known as the Hoosier Group. One of the most famous and successful members of the group was Theodore Clement Steele, who moved to the area in 1907. Drawn by its seclusion and stunning...

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Grave of William French in Westminster, Vermont
Along the Connecticut River in the quiet town of Westminster, Vermont, a headstone in the town’s old cemetery commemorates the life of William French, a man whose death indirectly led to Vermont’s independence, both from the British Loyalist government of New York Colony and the crown of Great Britain. In 1775, Westminster was a part of the once-fraught New Hampshire Grants, a strip of disputed land that was claimed by the provinces of both New Hampshire and New York. Tensions...

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Podcast: Buffalo Soldiers National Museum
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, one of our producers revisits her hometown, Houston, and goes to the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum. It holds stories about the contributions of Black members of the U.S. Armed Forces, and one man in particular, who started the collection years ago in his garage. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In...

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The Great American Alligator Museum in New...
Nestled in the heart of New Orleans’s Lower Garden district, among the vintage stores, coffee shops, and restaurants that line Magazine Street, the Great American Alligator Museum celebrates alligators’ 65 million-year-old history on planet Earth. The owners of the museum, Liz and Robert McDade, curated this one-of-a-kind exhibit after years of collecting and selling fossils and minerals.  Highlights of the museum include a 14-foot taxidermy alligator named Fideauax and a 50 million-year-old caiman fossil. There’s also a vast array...

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Morro Bay Maritime Museum in Morro Bay,...
The history of Morro Bay, a small city along California’s Central Coast, is a history of seafaring, from its commercial fishery to the U.S. Naval Amphibious Training Base that trained troops to fight in the Pacific Theater of World War II. At this small museum—a passion project that took decades to come together—this maritime history is preserved and displayed along California’s picturesque coastline. In the 1990s, museum founder Brent Roberts gathered a group of maritime history aficionados with the...

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Pensacola Lighthouse in Pensacola, Florida
Climbing the 177 steps to the top of the Pensacola Lighthouse brings you to a vantage point 191 feet above sea level. From there, you can see the sparkling Gulf of Mexico and three historic forts: Fort Barrancas, Fort McRee, and Fort Pickens. As you stand at the top of the lighthouse, smelling the salt water and feeling the cool breeze, views stretch out for miles in every direction. But one of the next views is much closer than...

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9 Unique Eats You Have to Try...
The cultural hub of the Mountain West, Denver is a multi-dimensional metropolis and a vibrant basecamp for visitors drawn to the majesty of the Rockies. It’s a melting pot of culinary influences, which have inspired not only a vibrant food scene but a thriving network of imaginative restaurants. From unexpected menu combinations, to unique and immersive settings, these establishments are reimagining the dining experience. Watch chefs cook your meal in a live performance at Beckon, learn dessert science at...

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Gastro Obscura’s Guide to Sustainable Denver Dining
Living at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains invites a keen interest in the natural environment. And while Denver is known for attracting eco-conscious travelers and residents, it holds a similar draw for sustainability-focused restaurateurs. Throughout the city, dozens of chefs, brewers, sommeliers, and urban farmers are reimagining our food systems, making them more local, more ethical, and more sustainable than ever. From Root Down, which is 100% wind-powered and constructed from upcycled materials, to Farm & Market, which...

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The Weird and Wonderful World of Sex...
During the peak of summer off the coast of Maine, a female lobster approaches the den of a potential mate. Male lobsters are aggressive, so she’s whipped up a love potion to win him over. The persuasive concoction is her own pee, full of seductive and disarming pheromones, which springs from a surprising source. “I hate to tell this to people who love to eat lobster,” says Ellen Prager, marine scientist and author of Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime:...

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Maultaschen
The origins of Germany’s Maultaschen are deliciously devious. Legend has it that, in the late Middle Ages, a lay brother named Jakob invented the stuffed pasta dumplings at the Maulbronn Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site founded in 1147 by Cistercian monks in southwest Germany. One direct translation of Maultaschen is “mouth pockets,” though “Maul” could just as easily refer to Maulbronn. Maultaschen are usually square dumplings (though sometimes they’re rolled) and can be fried in a pan or...

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