USS Blueback was the last non-nuclear powered submarine built by the U.S. Navy, and the last to be decommissioned after serving her country for 31 years. Blueback and her sister ships of the Barbel class utilized radical new concepts in post World War II submarine design, the most important being the teardrop hull and a single propeller. Blueback was decommissioned on 1 October 1990 and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, Washington. The USS Blueback was acquired by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, Oregon, in February 1994. This submarine appeared in the 1990 film The Hunt for Red October before being towed to its present location, a pier right outside the museum. It was opened to the public on May 15, 1994.

credit: aaronx

Mars Science Laboratory mission is part of NASA\’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet. Curiosity rover was designed to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbes. This robotic rover exploring Gale Crater on Mars. MSL rover, Curiosity, landed on Mars and began operations on August 6, 2012. The rover\’s primary mission runs for about one Mars year, through June 25, 2014.

credit: NASA                    credit: Paul Hammond