via wired:

The sonic space cadets in Man or Astro-man? mashed surf, sci-fi, punk, samples and Tesla coils into a jagged rock juggernaut, touring nonstop in the ’90s before burning out at the dawn of the ’00s. But the Alabama-based band has rebooted for the ’10s, and returns to interface live with fans on a U.S. tour next month.

Contrary to unpopular opinion, the quartet wasn’t just waiting around for developments in nanoscience to help repair its worn-out biocircuitry (although the band members are totally fine with that idea).

Also, check out this great interview over at Chunklet.

Although the ape will be looked after by a robot on the mission, the decision is expected to spark controversy with animal rights groups.

“We have plans to return to space,” said Zurab Mikvabia, director of the Institute of Experimental Pathology and Therapy in Georgia which supplied apes for the programme in the 1980s.

The Institute is in preliminary talks with Russia’s Cosmonautics Academy about preparing monkeys for a simulated Mars mission that could lay the groundwork for sending an ape to the Red Planet, he said.

Such an initiative would build on Mars-500, a joint Russian-European project that saw six human volunteers confined in a capsule in Moscow for 120 days earlier this year to simulate a Mars mission.

Mr Mikvabia said: “Earlier this programme was aimed at sending cosmonauts, people (to Mars). “But given the length of the flight to Mars, and given the cosmic rays for which we don’t have adequate protection over such a long trip, discussions have focused recently on sending an ape instead of a person.”

Read More: Telegraph

— Prologue to the film The Right Stuff

These were the best “crewman simulators” NASA ever had. Via Wikipedia:

Enos was selected to make the first orbital animal flight only three days before the launch. Two months before allowing a chimp to be launched into orbit, NASA had launched Mercury Atlas 4 on September 13, 1961, to conduct the same mission with a “crewman simulator” in the spacecraft. Enos flew into space on board Mercury Atlas 5 on November 29, 1961. He completed his first orbit in 1 hour and 28.5 minutes.

Enos was originally scheduled to complete three orbits, but was brought back after the second orbit because the spacecraft was not maintaining a proper attitude. According to observers, Enos jumped for joy and ran around the deck of the recovery ship enthusiastically shaking the hands of the rescue team. Enos’ flight was a full dress rehearsal for the next Mercury launch on February 20, 1962, which made Lt. Colonel John Glenn the first American to orbit the Earth.

Image: Enos wearing a space suit and lying in his flight couch while being prepared for insertion into the Mercury-Atlas 5 capsule in 1961.