Free Republic

Harvard University-affiliated astronomers announced the discovery of a new asteroid zooming precariously close to Earth — only to learn it was actually a Tesla sports car launched by Elon Musk as a publicity stunt seven years ago, scientists said Friday. The Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., officially registered the new space rock Jan. 2, saying it was spotted hurling through the final frontier roughly 150,000 miles from Earth, according to Astronomy magazine. Its distance was closer to the planet than the moon— prompting the scientists to declare the asteroid had the potential to some day slam into Earth. The...

Sir Keir Starmer has told the new leaders of Syria that they must renounce terrorism and violence following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Speaking as he arrived in the Gulf for trade talks, the Prime Minister said it was “very early days” when asked whether his Government would engage with the Syrian rebel group that has overthrown Assad. He welcomed the fall of Assad’s “barbaric regime”, and said: “We do need a political solution, and that’s what we are talking to regional allies about. It is a good thing that Assad has gone, a very good thing for the...

Keir Starmer has been in office for only five months, but it is already clear that his Government will be the worst in half a century. The die is cast: the Prime Minister is doubling down on every mistake, every prejudice, every tenet of the failed orthodoxy that has ruined Britain, probably because he is a true believer. He cannot and won’t change, seemingly oblivious to his abominable poll ratings, yet his inability to get anything right is truly staggering. Even those of us who predicted Starmer would be a disaster have been stunned by the speed of his implosion,...

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of David Bowie's legendary Starman performance on Top of the Pops

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk is a big "Hitchhiker's Guide" fan, as Starman's Roadster shows. The car's entertainment display was programmed to read "Don't Panic!" — the phrase that adorns the cover of the eponymous electronic guidebook in Adams' beloved series. Musk has said that he launched the Roadster and Starman because the duo is a lot more fun than the typical inert-mass dummy payload... Launching a satellite or other valuable spacecraft wasn't an option, given the risks inherent in maiden flights. The Roadster and Starman will come within a few hundred thousand kilometers of our planet in 2091,...

Starman actor Ken Utsui passed away on March 14, 2014, of chronic respiratory failure. He was 82. Although Utsui was a prolific actor for many decades, he is best known in the United States as Starman (a.k.a. Super Giant), the Shintoho superhero who fought a bevy of outlandish creatures in the late 1950s.