Soviet Arctic explorer at station NP-8. Photo: Sputnik Searching for a Soviet research station The research station NP-8 was only used by Soviet Arctic explorers until the time the ice sheet began to split. At that time, the scientists could have been urgently evacuated and this abandoned research station continued to float in the ocean until it was destroyed. In the early 1960s, the CIA and the Office of Naval Research under the US Department of the Navy conducted a “hunt” for abandoned Soviet research stations. It is said that the Soviet Union installed American submarine sound detectors there. Initially, the target was station NP-9, detected by a reconnaissance aircraft in May 1961. However, the operation was delayed and the research station was located too far in the waters of the Arctic Ocean. Station NP-9. Photo: Sputnik In the spring of 1962, about 970km from the Canadian Air Force base at Resolute Bay, another abandoned and floating research station – station NP-8 – was accidentally discovered. This is an opportunity America cannot afford to miss. Plan “Skyhook” Considering the fact that an icebreaker can’t make it through the dense ice in the area, a helicopter won’t be able to reach NP-8’s location and the plane’s landing on icebergs Floating is also too dangerous. So the US decided to drop the agents there by parachute. But the question then is how to bring those people back [máy bay]. In the end, the US decided to use the evacuation system that the CIA used in hostile lands, also known as the “Skyhook” – developed in the late 1950s. The plan required a balloon. Helium-inflated small, a 150-meter lift and a low-flying aircraft. When the balloon rises to the required height, agents “tethered” to the balloon by lifting ropes will wait on the ground. The approaching aircraft will use a special scraper or “horn” to pull the rope while releasing the balloon. The lifting rope is then automatically wound into the winch, lifting the agent onto the plane. What happened on the iceberg? Major James Smith, an experienced paratrooper and fluent Russian, and his colleague Captain Leonard A. LeSchack, an expert in submarine surveillance systems, had three days to review everything at the research station. . A few boxes of essential equipment were dropped onto the iceberg with the agents. American B-17 bomber. Photo: Uli Elch (CC BY-SA 4.0) As the US predicted, the Soviet scientists left NP-8 station in a hurry without having time to bring all the equipment. Agents discovered more than 80 documents, collected debris from equipment left behind by the Soviet Union, took about 100 photos. By the time the plane returned to pick them up, the weather in the research station area had turned severely bad. Visibility is reduced and wind is very strong. “I was immediately in a situation that one would imagine was flying into space,” recalls Connie W. Seigrist, the pilot of the plane that arrived to pick up the agents. The “trophies” collected by the agents were easily loaded onto the plane using the Skyhook without any problems, but getting the agents on board was a difficult task. The wind caused LeSchack to be dragged nearly 100 meters until the agent tried to cling to a block of ice. Even after the plane picked up the lifting rope, LeSchack still spent up to 10 minutes “hanging” in the air in cold weather before boarding. After seeing what happened to his colleague, Smith released his balloon and held on to a Soviet tractor left beside the research station for as long as possible. In the end, Smith was lifted without any particular difficulty. “Enjoy your time. This is the first time I’ve been able to relax in about a week,” Smith joked to the pilots after being loaded onto the plane. As a result of Operation Coldfeet, the Americans discovered that the Soviet Union had made significant advances in the field of polar meteorology and polar oceanography. In addition, the US also obtained evidence that the Soviet Union used sonar equipment of US submarines in the Arctic. “Overall, the Soviet Union’s remarkable achievements in drifting stations show that they have a long experience in this field and that these research stations themselves are also very important to the Soviet government.” , the commander of the operation, Colonel John Cadwalader said.

Soviet polar explorer at the NP-8 ice station. Photo: Sputnik On May 28, 1962, two Americans parachuted from the B-17 “Flying Fortress,” landing at Severny Polyus-8 (also known as North Pole-8, or NP-8), a research station destroyed abandoned Soviet Union is drifting on an iceberg in the Arctic Ocean. This was the starting point of one of the CIA’s most unusual operations, which went down in history with the codename Operation Coldfeet. Hunting for Soviet ice stations An iceberg station was only useful to Soviet polar explorers until the moment the iceberg on which it rested began to disintegrate. At that time, the scientists will be urgently evacuated and the abandoned station will continue to drift across the ocean until it is completely destroyed. In the early 1960s, the CIA and the US Department of Navy’s Office of Naval Research conducted a real manhunt for abandoned Soviet ice stations. It is believed that in those places are installed sonar detectors of US submarines. Initially, the CIA’s target was station NP-9, discovered by a reconnaissance plane in May 1961. However, this mission stalled and the ice station was pushed too far into the ocean. A tow truck rescues a car mired in snow at a Soviet observation post on an iceberg in the Arctic. Photo: Getty Images In the spring of 1962, about 970 km from Candian Air Force Base in Resolute Bay, another abandoned iceberg station, NP-8, was unexpectedly discovered. It is an opportunity not to be missed. However, American icebreakers could not make their way through the dense ice in the area, helicopters could not reach the location, and it was too dangerous for an aircraft to land on a disintegrating “buoy”. So the CIA decided to drop the agents by parachute. But the question then is how to bring them back. Ultimately, officials decided to use a system that specialized in evacuating CIA agents from hostile territory known as the ‘Skyhook’ developed by Robert E. Fulton in the late 1950s. The system required a a bread-shaped, helium-filled balloon, a 150-meter extension cord and a low-altitude aircraft. Lockheed P-2 Neptune reconnaissance aircraft. Photo: RBTH When they needed to get out of the location, CIA agents would use helium cylinders to inflate their personal balloons, tie one end of the rope to it, and wrap the other end around them. The balloon will rise into the air, and the rescue plane will use special forks to reach for the rope, then release the balloon. The rope was then wound onto a winch and lifted the agents onto the plane. The rescue Major James Smith, an experienced paratrooper who is fluent in Russian, and his colleague, Lieutenant Leonard A. LeSchack, an expert in submarine surveillance systems, spent three days researching the NP-station- 8. They parachute down to the station with some necessary equipment boxes. As expected by the Americans, the Soviet scientists rushed to leave the NP-8 station without taking all the equipment with them. CIA agents unearthed more than 80 documents, collected fragments of equipment left behind by the Soviets, and took about a hundred pictures. Soviet Arctic Station 9. Photo: Sputnik By the time it was designated to evacuate, the weather at station NP-8 had deteriorated dramatically: Visibility had plummeted and icy winds were rushing in. Connie W. Seigrist, the pilot of the plane that rescued the agents, recalls: “I was immediately thrown into a situation that could have been imagined as if I was flying through space.” The aircraft collected the “trophies” using the ‘Skyhook’ system without much difficulty, but with humans it was even more difficult. The wind dragged LeSchack nearly 100 meters above the ice as he waited for evacuation by trying to anchor himself to a block of ice. Even after the plane had picked up, LeSchack spent another 10 minutes dangling in the icy air before being hoisted onto the plane. Major Smith (water drinker) on a B-17 on June 2, 1962; Lieutenant LeShack in the lower right corner. Photo: RBTH After observing what happened to his colleague, Smith released his balloon and grabbed hold of an abandoned Soviet tractor. In the end, he was lifted without any particular difficulty. As a result of Operation Coldfeet, the Americans discovered that the Soviet Union had made significant advances in the study of polar meteorology and polar oceanography. In addition, they obtained evidence that the Russians were using sonar equipment to detect American submarines in the Arctic. “Overall, the Soviet Union’s remarkable achievements in iceberg stations reflect their long experience in this field and the great importance their government places on it,” said Operation Commander, Captain John Cadwalader noted.

A photo of Mars in April 2021. Photo: NASA The word “telepathy” with Martians… Then, a John Hopkins University professor named Robert Wood suggested covering the white alkaline earth plains of Nevada (USA) with giant black spots made of square kilometers of black cloth. “It might be easier to ‘blink’ the signals with dark spots like a mirror of the same size,” explains Mr. Wood. But like Professor Pickering’s plan, Mr Wood’s solution soon fell through due to a lack of funding. Another professor, David Todd of Amherst University, thinks that by raising a balloon 15,000 meters, he can get any message from Mars. “If life really did exist on Mars, they would have tried for years to talk to us, and perhaps wonder how stupid our behavior was for not responding to them,” said Todd. spoke in May 1909, months before the proposed flight was in September. The Tacoma Times reported on Professor David Todd’s plan for a hot air balloon to capture Mars signals on June 14, 1909. Photo: Library of Congress But Professor Todd’s balloon test flight only reached an altitude of 1,500 meters. Soon after, the support that David Todd received from the US War Department abruptly ended, leaving the scientist with no means to continue with his plan. The use of sound waves, mirrors, hot air balloons, and even giant black spots to “make contact” with any possible life on Mars has at least the backing of science. But on October 27, 1926, a London lawyer named Hugh Mansfield Robinson claimed it was “absurd” that he had tried to send a telegram straight to Mars, which is 56 million miles away from us. km, where “Mars girlfriend” is waiting for him! Dr. Robinson is confident that his message will reach the recipient. Mars was then closest to Earth in its two-year orbit. In addition, Robinson said he had a “telepathic” conversation with a six-meter-tall Martian woman named Oomaruru. According to Dr. Robinson, Oomaruru and her Martians live like Earthlings, driving cars and smoking pipes! However, he asserts, they fly through the sky in electric balloons and eat fruit from electric trees. For months before transmitting the message, Robinson worked with the Central London Telegraph Office to send a physical message to his “Mars girlfriend”. Incredibly, the Telegraph Office agreed to send a telegram from Rugby Tower, the most powerful wireless station in the world at the time, at a standard long-distance rate: 18 British cents per word, or about zero. 35 USD. Although the telegraph staff heard no response, Robinson claimed to have heard telepathically from Oomaruru. She told him that the Martians had “sitted for hours to receive the signal”. “They laugh at our scientists because they themselves are completely out of the trouble in the atmosphere, but we are not,” Robinson said. A “selfie” taken by NASA’s Perseverance probe in April 2021. Photo: NASA … to land on the “Red Planet” The ideas of the scientists who came before them seemed far-fetched, but their curiosity and relentless pursuit inspired generations to come. By 1976, the US Space Agency (NASA) had brought the search for life on Mars to the actual surface of the planet via two Viking landers. One of the metabolic reactions conducted by the lander also revealed positive results, suggesting that there may be life on the “Red Planet”. However, those results remain controversial to this day. Subsequent explorations of the landers have provided evidence that Mars may have once been very friendly to life. For example, the Curiosity rover, which landed in 2012, discovered a mountain in the middle of Gale crater on the Red Planet called Mount Sharp. This 4,800-meter-high mountain is formed from layered sedimentary rock, composed of different minerals, and has been formed over time by wind and water, two elements that require an atmosphere to exist. . helicopter (The Ingenuity Helicopter, from the Perseverance probe, has made many flights to Mars). Scientists believe that if there ever was an atmosphere around Mars, then perhaps microorganisms existed billions of years ago while the layers of material were forming, and the “Red Planet” has could have harbored life for about 1 million years. NASA’s Perseverance rover was launched on July 30, 2020 and landed on Mars on February 18, 2021. Most recently, on May 15, 2021, the Tianwen-1 probe and China’s first self-propelled Mars rover, Zhu Rong, successfully landed on the surface of the “Red Planet”. The mission of Thien Van-1 is to land a lander carrying autonomous robots to the surface of Mars to collect data on groundwater sources, looking for signs of ancient life on this planet. Any discoveries by landers from Earth could be microbial, but they will be no less remarkable than the “canal engineers” we had hoped to find on Earth. Mars from the 19th century. Watch part 1 : CHANNEL OF THE ALTERNATIVES

Australian diver Rhiannan Iffland performed the world’s first stunt when she jumped from a moving hot air balloon into the Paterson River in New South Wales. Previously, Rhiannan Iffland impressed with acrobatics from a height of 120 meters in a salt mine last year. The female athlete continued to impress when conquering the new challenge of jumping into the water from a height of tens of meters, on a flying hot air balloon. Rhiannan Iffland said: “We just did a jump into the water from a flying hot air balloon. This is my first time diving again after falling out of a hot air balloon. It was a special feeling, all acting out too quickly”. Rhiannan Iffland jumped into the water from a height of about 18 meters in a hot air balloon Impressive feat Rhiannan Iffland performed nearly a year of training, after performing a jump from a hot air balloon into the water and diving unsuccessfully in November last year due to bad weather. Rhiannan Iffland, a cliff diving athlete revealed: “I love this sport. What attracts me the most is the fact that I have the opportunity to dive after jumping from different heights, exotic locations. , weird around the world. Diving after jumping out of a hot air balloon is at the top of my wish list for a long time. Last year, when it was not successful with this plan, Rhiannan Iffland was extremely disappointed. The girl did not participate in any events and did not feel motivated to do anything else. Rhiannan Iffland specifically focuses on the idea of ​​diving after jumping out of a hot air balloon. “Today, when we climbed very high, I was a little hesitant, worried, unsure about whether to continue or not. I reassured myself that okay we will fly straight over the target area. I jumped down. Yes, I finally jumped down super fast, “said Rhiannan Iffland. This woman jumped into the water from a height of about 18 meters. Rhiannan Iffland has dived in different waters many times, but this is the first time she has resumed diving after jumping from a hot air balloon. She always feels lucky to work with pilots who know exactly what they need to do, who are also focused on the job. As a cliff diving athlete, Rhiannan Iffland has traveled the world to satisfy his passion, performing dances in places such as the Philippines, Spain, Portugal and Italy. She once jumped off cliffs up to 27 meters high, reaching speeds of more than 85km/h.

Dream of the sky The daughter of a tsarist general, Lydia Zvereva was obsessed with planes from an early age. She read a lot of books about aviation, took complex mechanical toys to pieces, and talked for hours about hot air balloons and airplanes. She even performed “test flights” by jumping from the roof of the storage shed to the ground. “Ever since I was a little girl, I was very interested in the hot air balloons at Osowiec Fortress, so I built models. At that time in Russia no one could fly, and in the press only occasionally began to appear the first information about the achievements of foreign manufacturers,” recalls Lidya Zvereva. Russia’s first female pilot Lydia Zvereva on the plane “Farman-4”. Photo: Karl Bulla/russiainphoto.ru What worries Lydia is certainly not that the early twentieth century aviation industry is still in its infancy, but that flights are very dangerous to life. Flimsy, unreliable planes are prone to capsizing and breaking the wind, claiming the lives of dozens of pilots around the world every year. However, Lydia Zvereva enrolled in the private aviation school “Gamayun” near Saint Petersburg. The local newspaper wrote about the first woman who wanted to learn to be a pilot, calling her “Miss Z” because she wanted to respect her private life. “Lydia Zvereva flew without hesitation and very decisively. I remember everyone paying attention to her masterful flights, including the very high ones. Because at that time, not everyone dared to take the risk of flying to such a high altitude,” said her classmate Konstantin Artseulov. There were a few times when Lydia Zvereva had a serious accident, but always luckily only minor scratches. On August 23, 1911, after passing all the necessary exams, the 21-year-old “Miss Z” was granted a pilot’s license, becoming the first female pilot of the Russian Empire. Talented Aircraft Builder In 1912, Lydia Zvereva, along with her husband, pilot Vladimir Slyusarenko, practiced aerobatics. They attended Aviation Week in Baku, performed in Tiflis (now Tbilisi, Georgia), where female pilots performed flights in difficult weather conditions. The trip to Riga almost became Lydia Zvereva’s last. While flying, the wind started to pick up and threw her “Farman” plane into the stands. She tried to fly up, but she was thrown into the stronger wind, and her plane was eventually overturned. When she fell to the ground, the female pilot was thrown forward and was crushed by aircraft debris. Not long after, in one of her letters, she wrote: “When the plane went down, I almost broke my leg. It still hurts to this day. My lung condition is very bad. The doctor told me not to go anymore, but I still wanted to fly. They warn, if you do not obey, you will get tuberculosis. Indeed, that is the fate of the pilot profession!”. Lydia Zvereva with the first Russian-made aircraft “Kudashev-1”. Documentary photo Despite the accident, perhaps thanks to that, Lydia’s performances were so successful. She and her husband were invited to stay in Riga and they happily accepted. This large city on the Baltic coast was at that time the center of the Russian aviation industry. Here they built the first aircraft engines in the country. In 1913, she and her husband opened their pilot school in Riga with the lowest tuition fees in the country. In addition, they also organized aircraft repair and design classes, at which time Lydia Zvereva was an aircraft builder who upgraded aircraft manufactured in Western countries. This particular woman was invited to work in Austria-Hungary, but she decided to stay in her homeland. Female pilot with no number Teaching and crafting did not make Lydia Zvereva more cautious. This first Russian female pilot is still actively flying as before, even though it is very dangerous to her life. She even had the courage to participate in the “death” twist when sitting on the plane. That flight took place on May 19, 1914 in a monoplane “Moran” piloted by experienced male pilot Evgeny Shpitsberg. The newspaper “Riga Messenger” wrote: “The “Moran” quickly soared into the air. 500, 600 then 700 meters. At an altitude of 800 meters, the plane suddenly stopped in the air and then dived. Almost simultaneously, the spectators gathered below all fled. But after a few seconds, there was a rumble of the engine, the plane soared high and then took a sharp turn. The crowd held their breath with applause. After a while, the plane flew along a beautiful spiral and then landed in the grandstand area. “Hooray! Hooray!” – everyone chanted.” Lydia Zvereva’s admirer is the male pilot Pyotr Nesterov, the first person in the world to perform this complex flight. At the outbreak of World War I, the couple’s pilot school was evacuated to the city of Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg). In fact, this school has become a manufacturing workshop, where 300 employees carry out orders from the Ministry of Defense. Fate did not allow Lydia Zvereva to live until the end of World War I. Many times she escaped death while flying, but she died of typhoid on June 16, 1916 at the age of 26. The female pilot’s friends and students saw her off to her final resting place by flying around in “Farmans” over Alexander Nevsky Monastery in Petrograd.

“Color of work” is the work of photographer Tran Tuan Viet. He shared that he took a photo of an employee while preparing for a hot air balloon during a festival in Ba Vi National Park. Preparing a hot air balloon before flying usually takes more than an hour. Tuan Viet said he spent many days at the festival, getting up at 5am and going more than 100 km / day to catch this moment. Tuan Viet’s photo won the “Readers’ Choice” award at the 18th international photo contest organized by Smithsonian magazine. The special prize goes to “In the crowd” work by Skyler Wilson, American freelance photographer. His impressive photo shows a girl during the 2020 women’s march in Washington (USA). The red handprints on the mouth are images that remind indigenous women and girls who have been murdered or missing. Winner of the “Natural World” award is “Whaletail” photo by John Comosky. The photographer said they were sailing through the Antarctic Circle when they spotted humpback whales crossing the bay. The captain decided to follow and discovered about 250 children. They are all feeding. “The whales emerged, dived around us in all directions. How magical,” Comosky said. In the Tourism category, the winning photo is “Generous Russia” by photographer Olesla Kim. Photo of a typical meal of birch land on a famous Volga car. Milky way in the sky suburban San Manuel (Arizona, USA) by Lynsey Schroeder author won the category “Experience America”. This area is less affected by light pollution, so it is very suitable for “galaxy hunters”. While standing here, only a few times, the silence was broken by the sound of passing cars, the author said. The car lights illuminate the giant saguaro cacti. “Blockade Diary” is a photo taken with Mayank Soni’s phone. “Who would believe this city can become such a quiet space? Pandemic shows us how to pay attention and appreciate what is there. On the first day of separation, I saw someone standing on the rooftop. next door, seem to be thinking about something. Didn’t say anything to each other but it seemed like we had the same feeling as we watched the sunset radiating across the silent city, The Smithsonian International Photo Contest is held annually. In the last 17 occasions, they received about 470,000 works from photographers around the world. The overall winner will receive a bonus amount of 2,500 USD. Other categories (including readers’ votes) have a bonus of 500 USD. Last year, the final winning photo belonged to a photo of a fish dealer, taken in Hanoi.

“We are the first manufacturer in the world to combine the internal combustion engine and the electric motor in a small UAV. In flight, internal combustion engines are not the main engine, they only provide energy. for generators, battery buffers and electric motors with electronic systems working, “said project leader Khamitov. Aero Company’s product. The electric motor increases uptime, making the aircraft quieter enough to perform unexpected secret missions. Meanwhile, similar products using other internal combustion engines can hardly do that. It is known that, before announcing the ZALA 421-16E5G, ZALA Aero Company also made a surprise with ZALA 421-16E5. This UAV is not only capable of operating 16 hours continuously in the air but is also designed to return to base in the event of a loss of contact with the control center. In the UAV’s electronics department there are cameras with high resolution cameras, night vision equipment and thermal imaging equipment. The images are stacked to facilitate terrain monitoring at any time of day. “The design of this UAV model uses unique technology to create a quality and reliable product. The engine management system is completely inside and controls every detail of the aircraft. In addition, the ZALA 421-16E5 can also be deployed from an electrically controlled launch system in special terrain areas. This is a feature that is being developed with attention in new UAV models today. Old drones can only take off at flat runways and are carefully prepared, “said Zala Aero design director Alexander Zakharov. In addition, Mr. Zakharov also ensured that the ZALA 421-16E5 protective and landing gear has a special design to make the process safe. What makes this UAV so special is its ability to return to the base in case something goes wrong with the control system. Zala Aero is a subsidiary of the Kalashnikov group mainly develops and manufactures air reconnaissance and reconnaissance weapons. The company’s main products include UAVs, helicopters and hot air balloons.