blue moon
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Blue Origin and SpaceX win contracts to develop NASA's Moon spacecraft
Blue Origin and SpaceX are two of three companies that won NASA contracts for spacecraft key to the Artemis Moon mission.
Blue Origin teams with spaceflight veterans to complete its lunar lander
Blue Origin won't be alone in working on a crewed lunar lander that will (hopefully) participate in NASA's Artemis program. Jeff Bezos' outfit has unveiled a trio of partners that will help it complete the Human Landing System, all of which are space industry veterans. Lockheed Martin will work on the reusable Ascent Element vehicle as well as lead crewed flight ops. Northrop Grumman, meanwhile, will produce the Transfer Element that brings the landing system toward the Moon. Draper, in turn, will handle descent guidance and avionics.
Jeff Bezos reveals his 'Blue Moon' lunar lander
Blue Origin is building a lunar lander aptly called the Blue Moon. Jeff Bezos has announced his space company's shared goal with NASA to go back to our planet's fateful companion in the next few years at an event for media and space industry executives. There, the tech exec has also revealed that Blue Origin is developing a new engine called BE-7 with a 10,000 lbf thrust, strong enough to power the rocket that's ferrying the lander and its large payloads to space. Its first test fire could happen as soon as this summer.
Steamy Romance Novels: Now with illustrations
One of my favorite parts of any new expansion has just gotten an upgrade, of sorts. It's no secret that I love the Steamy Romance Novels that have been a staple in the game since Burning Crusade. Mists of Pandaria added not one, but two new selections -- although one of them, I'm In Love With A Robot, is too smudged to actually read. Needless to say, part of me has been wondering if the savage lands of Draenor will, in fact, contain one of these literary masterpieces for us to collect. I was both surprised and delighted to see that not only do we get a new book, but all the books in the collection have received visual upgrades. That's right -- every readable Steamy Romance Novel now has illustrations along with the tantalizingly silly bits of story. That's some pretty loving attention to detail for what are essentially a bunch of vendor-trash books that most people won't favor with more than a glance. But more importantly, a new novel has been added to the collection: A Steamy Romance Novel: Savage Passions. And even more importantly than that, a new method has been added of obtaining all of the Steamy Romance Novels ... just in case you were missing one from your collection.
Steamy Romance Novel makes a return with double the fun in Mists
Although I've been impressed and delighted with each update of stuff to come with Mists of Pandaria -- the armor, the weapons, the reputation rewards, the mounts, and of course all those wonderful pets -- I still couldn't help but feel that something terribly important was missing. This thing, of course, was the Steamy Romance Novel edition for the next expansion, which we discussed way back in March. I mean sure, you can give me five new levels, a new race, and a ton of stuff to do, but it just doesn't feel complete until I can read about Sir Marcus' further, uh, exploits, as it were. Ladies and gentlemen, the issue has been addressed. And we have not one, but two resources waiting for us (although one of them doesn't appear to be legible). A Steamy Romance Novel: Hot and Misty follows Marcus to the Tavern of the Mists, where we learn that Kama the stable master is largely unimpressed with Marcus' exploits, Madam Goya appears to offer more rare items than expected, and you should be careful heading upstairs in the neutral tavern, because you might just find a pair of blood elves waiting for you. Unless you're into that thing, of course. You can read the whole tawdry mess over on Wowhead. And if you're interested in more, well, you're kind of out of luck for now, it seems. While A Steamy Romance Novel: I'm In Love With A Robot exists, it's too smudged with oil to read. Oddly enough, it appears to be an engineering item, since it fits in any of the engineering bags available. Apparently the book came with a schematic -- who knew? Regardless, with all the new new new of Mists, it's nice to see some things never change. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Wherefore art thou, Steamy Romance Novel?
There's nothing quite like curling up with a good book, except perhaps curling up with a good book in game. WoW's got plenty of books to offer and even has achievements surrounding the various books in the world. There's Well Read and the far more difficult Higher Learning, which relies on luck and being in the right place at the right time in Dalaran. You can find all kinds of books lying around Azeroth, waiting to be clicked and read -- everything from historical texts to The Fluffy Bunny, a gripping tale of a bunny named Fluffy and his friend Wuffy. There are plenty of players who don't bother reading the books you find around the world, and those players are totally missing out. Sure, there's a lot of what could be called dry lore material, but there are also books filled with jokes, fake news, and romance. Yes, romance -- the steamy kind. The authors of Azeroth don't limit themselves to boring historical recounts; a select few write the kind of bodice-ripping romance novels that usually feature Fabio on the cover and enough flowery language to seem at least somewhat respectable.
The Queue: Howl at the nonexistent moon
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. So many amazing people have performed Blue Moon over the years. Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Ella Fitzgerald, the list goes on and on. It's a simple song that's been everywhere. I decided to go with The Marcels for the embed, but it was a tough choice. Melfina the Blue asked... "What happened to Azeroth's second moon? It used to be there, where did it go?"
