Museum fossils go to space

The recent launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket marked several historic milestones. The 21-year-old crew member Karsen Kitchen set a record for the youngest woman to cross the Kármán line, the boundary 62 miles overhead that separates Earth’s atmosphere from everything beyond it. It was the first time a NASA-funded researcher had left Earth on a commercially owned rocket. Thanks to that same researcher, it was also the first time that a fossilized snail, horse and early ancestor of modern primates went to space. The recent launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket marked several historic milestones. The 21-year-old crew member Karsen Kitchen set a record for the youngest woman to cross the Kármán line, the boundary 62 miles overhead that separates Earth’s atmosphere from everything beyond it. It was the first time a NASA-funded researcher had left Earth on a commercially owned rocket. Thanks to that same researcher, it was also the first time that a fossilized snail, horse and early ancestor of modern primates went to space. Paleontology & Fossils Phys.org – latest science and technology news stories