“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)

“Contrails (short for “condensation trails”) or vapour trails are artificial clouds that are the visible trails of condensed water vapour made by the exhaust of aircraft engines. As the hot exhaust gases cool in the surrounding air they may precipitate a cloud of microscopic water droplets or, if the air is cold enough, tiny ice crystals”. – Wikipedia

Photo: An airplane leaves a vapor trail as it flies in front of he moon on January 17, 2007 above Hanover, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Emma Watson poses at the winners boards at the Sony Ericsson Empire Film Awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel on March 9, 2008 in London England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

“The Mikoyan MiG-31 (NATO reporting name: Foxhound) is a supersonic interceptor aircraft developed to replace the MiG-25 “Foxbat”. The MiG-31 was designed by the Mikoyan design bureau based on the MiG-25”. – Wikipedia

Photos: The Mikoyan MiG-31 “Foxhound”. Russia, April 2012. (Photo by Alexandr Pak; Source: LiveJournal)

“Horst Faas (28 April 1933 – 10 May 2012) was a German photo-journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He is best-known for his images of the Vietnam War”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A U.S. crewman runs from a crashed CH-21 Shawnee troop helicopter near the village of Ca Mau in the southern tip of South Vietnam, December 11, 1962. Two helicopters crashed without serious injuries during a government raid on the Viet Cong-infiltrated area. Both helicopters were destroyed to keep them out of enemy hands. (Photo by AP Photo/Horst Faas)

This artist's scoreboard displays a fictional game between Mars and Earth, with Mars in the lead. It refers to the success rate of sending missions to Mars, both as orbiters and landers. Of the previous 39 missions targeted for Mars from around the world, 15 have been successes and 24 failures. For baseball fans, that's a batting average of .385. The United States has had 13 successes out of 18 attempts, or a “batting average” of .722. NASA's Curiosity rover, set to land on the Red Planet the evening of Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT), will mark the United States' 19th attempt to tackle the challenge of Mars, and the world's 40th attempt. (Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech)

“Cormorant fishing is a traditional fishing method in which fishermen use trained cormorants to fish in rivers. Historically, cormorant fishing has taken place in Japan and China from around 960 AD. and recorded from other places throughout the world”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A cormorant raised by a fisherman catches a fish on a canal on November 27, 2007 in Xitang Town of Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province, China. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Participants dressed as Santa Claus take part in the Great Edinburgh Santa Run on December 11, 2011 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Around a thousand people took part in the annual fundraising event, with all money raised being donated to the charity “When You Wish Upon a Star”. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)