Liu Yang, China's first female astronaut, waves during a departure ceremony at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, on June 16, 2012. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters via The Atlantic)

Amy Rimmer, Research Engineer at Jaguar Land Rover, demonstrates the car manufacturer's Advanced Highway Assist in a Range Rover, which drives the vehicle, overtakes and can detect vehicles in the blind spot, during the first demonstrations of the UK Autodrive Project at HORIBA MIRA Proving Ground in Nuneaton, Warwickshire on Friday October 21, 2016. (Photo by Fabio De Paola/PA Wire)

Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn’t resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union.

U.S. Air Force wounded warrior, Capt. Sarah Evans, jumps rope in a gym in San Antonio, Texas. Evans was diagnosed with cancer while deployed to Afghanistan and was medically evacuated back to the United States where her leg was amputated. (Photo by Master Sgt. Jeffrey Allen/U.S. Air Force)

A volunteer holds the peak of a flamingo chick after it was fitted with an identity ring at a lagoon in the Fuente de Piedra natural reserve near Malaga, southern Spain, July 30, 2022. (Photo by Jon Nazca/Reuters)

Murad Khydyrov, horse and monkey trainer at the Great Moscow State Circus, and chimpanzee named Micky get ready for a rehearsal of the show called “History” as the circus prepares for its new season, which is to begin on September 19, in Moscow on September 17, 2020. (Photo by Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP Photo)

A statue of a woman made out of glass and rubble that resulted from the Beirut port mega explosion August 04, is placed opposite to the site of the blast in the Lebanese capital's harbour to mark the one year anniversary of the beginning of the anti-government protest movement across the country on October 20, 2020. Hundreds marched in Beirut on the weekend to mark the first anniversary of a non-sectarian protest movement that has rocked the political elite but has yet to achieve its goal of sweeping reform. (Photo by Joseph Eid/AFP Photo)

Wounded women arrive at a hospital for treatment after two blasts, which killed at least five and wounded a dozen, outside the airport in Kabul on August 26, 2021. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP Photo)