“SpaceShipOne was a suborbital air-launched spaceplane that completed the first manned private spaceflight in 2004. That same year, it won the US$10 million Ansari X Prize and was immediately retired from active service. Its mothership was named “White Knight”. Both craft were developed and flown by Mojave Aerospace Ventures, which was a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's aviation company. Allen provided the funding of approximately US$25 million”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A chase plane follows SpaceShipOne after it reached a height of 62 miles in the first non-governmental flight to leave the Earth's atmosphere on June 21, 2004 in Mojave, California. SpaceShipOne spacecraft was carried to a height of 50,000 by the twin-turbojet high-altitude research aircraft, “White Knight”, where it was launched for its final climb. The space effort was funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and headed by aerospace engineer Burt Rutan. (Photo by Jim Campbell-Pool/Getty Images)

Japanese sеx doll exhibition attracts hundreds of mannequin-fetishists to celebrate 40 years of the X-rated love bots in Tokyo, Japan on May 19, 2017. These silicon seductresses were the star of an extraordinary exhibition in Japan showcasing sеx dolls that cost as little as a second hand car. Japanese sеx doll maker Orient Industry (originally Orient made dolls for disabled people) were laying bare their dazzling bevvy of beauties in an extravaganza to mark its 40th anniversary this week. Here: Orient industry prides itself on its detail with two looking extremely real as they sit flirtatiously on a couch. (Photo by Masatoshi Okauchi/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

(L-R) Diana Burkot, Maria Alyokhina and Olga Borisova perform at the concert of the anti-cremlin and feminist band p*ssy Riot at Funkhaus Berlin on May 12, 2022. The 33-year-old Alyokhina had only recently fled Russia. Based on the book “Riot Days” by Alyokhina, the “p*ssy Riot Anti-War Tour” presented a performance project consisting of music, theater and video recordings. 19 performances have been announced for the tour. The punk band has been a thorn in the side of the Russian government for years. (Photo by Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa)

Palestinian plain-clothed security officers detain a man during a demonstration in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on June 26, 2021, to protest the death of human rights activist Nizar Banat while in the custody of Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces. Thousands of mourners attended on June 25 the funeral of the 43-year-old Banat, a day after he died in custody following his violent arrest by Palestinian security forces, which sparked outrage in the occupied West Bank. He was known for social media videos denouncing alleged corruption within the PA. (Photo by Ahmad Gharabli/AFP Photo)

The singer Jennifer Lopez during her concert at the Movistar Arena, on July 13, 2025, in Madrid, Spain. The international artist, a native of New York, performs in Madrid as part of her tour “Up all night Live in 2025”. Jennifer Lopez has sold more than 80 million albums to date, accumulated more than fifteen billion plays and has nearly 28 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone. Among the awards she has won throughout her career are the American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, or the Latin Grammy Awards. (Photo by Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press via The Mega Agency)

Jonny Joo, 23, visits derelict malls, stations, towers and other places because they remind him of Silent Hill – a psychological horror video game which was made into a film. “When I first started exploring places, so many would remind me of the game. It was a world I was kind of obsessed with because of how dark and eerie it looked”, Joo said. His book, titled “Empty Spaces”, will feature 116 images and is being released this week. Photo: A glass-walled corridor at Cleveland's abandoned aquarium in Ohio. (Photo by Jonny Joo/Barcroft Media)

The new Amazon tablet called the Kindle Fire is displayed on September 28, 2011 in New York City. The Fire, which will be priced at $199, is an expanded version of the company's Kindle e-reader that has 8GB of storage and WiFi. The Fire gives users access to streaming video, as well as e-books, apps and music, and has a Web browser. In addition to the Fire, Bezos introduced four new Kindles including a Kindle touch model. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

William Gibson is not one of the authors that spits out novels like a machine – in his long and fruitful career he has only published 11 novels andof short stories and articles in the tens each. Still his impact on modern literature was huge – the “noir prophet” of the cyberpunk subgenre (that he was one of the pioneers of) has predicted the rise of reality television, virtual reality, video games and the internet. He is a Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction writer, with a special eye for what the future might bring.