Word: vostok
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...frozen continent of Antarctica is almost equally deadly, but at the other end of the temperature scale. Drill into the ice cap a mile, then another, and you reach, improbably, a body of water known as Lake Vostok that rivals Lake Ontario in size. While scientists haven't yet drilled into the lake itself, they have pulled up samples of frozen lake water clinging to the bottom of the ice cap that contain unmistakable evidence of microbial DNA. Although it hovers near the freezing point, cut off from light and outside nutrients, Lake Vostok is teeming with microorganisms. "Nobody," marvels...
Last week marked several important dates in the history of space exploration. Forty years ago last Thursday, an unknown 27-year-old Soviet pilot named Yuri Gagarin took flight in the small spherical Vostok capsule. His one-orbit, 108-minute flight made him the first man to travel in space and marked one of the most important events of the 20th century. Twenty years later, also on Apr. 12, the space shuttle Columbia entered space. The 54-hour maiden voyage of the reusable spacecraft signified the dawning of a new age of exploration...