“The Lockheed Martin X-33 is an unmanned, sub-scale technology demonstrator suborbital spaceplane developed in the 1990s under the U.S. government-funded Space Launch Initiative program”. – Wikipedia

Photo: An Artist's Rendering Shows How Nasa's X-33 Technology Demonstrator, A Cost-Cutting Fully Reusable Single-Stage-To-Orbit Space Vehicle, Will Look Upon Completion. The 67 Foot-Long, 278,600 Pound, Twin Engine Space Vehicle, Capable Of Reaching Speeds In Excess Of Mach 15, Will Lead To The Construction Of A 127 Foot-Long, 2,186,000 Pound Version With Seven Engines And A 50,000 Pound Payload Capacity Called The “Venturestar”. (Photo By Nasa/Getty Images)

Grand banqueting halls, opulent lobbies and vast ballrooms; you could easily be forgiven for thinking this was a collection of photographs was documenting some of Europe’s grandest hotels. However, a closer look will reveal the majestic rooms to be engulfed in swathes of dust and moss; hotels that once hosted royals and high society abandoned to the elements. This is the latest result of urban exploration photography, going beyond “no entry” signs to capture images of dilapidated buildings across Europe. IT worker Thomas Windisch, from Graz in Austria, indulged his passion for photography by traveling across the continent, visiting over 100 abandoned hotels along the way. Here: inside a hotel in Austria. (Photo by Thomas Windisch/Caters News)

It would seem to be something you'd see only in a cartoon or at a Phish concert, but according to park rangers in New South Wales, Australia, dozens of giant, fluorescent pink slugs have been popping up on a mountaintop there. The eight-inch creatures have been spotted only on Mount Kaputar, a 5,000-foot peak in the Nandewar Range in northern New South Wales. Scientists believe the eye-catching organisms are survivors from an era when Australia was home to rainforests. A series of volcanoes, millions of years of erosion and other geological changes “have carved a dramatic landscape at Mount Kaputar”, the park service wrote on its Facebook page, and unique arid conditions spared the slugs from extinction. (Photo by Michael Murphy/AFP Photo/NSW Environment Office)

A woman crowd-surfs in front of the main stage at the Woodstock Festival in Kostrzyn-upon-Odra, close to the Polish-German border, August 2, 2014. Some 500 thousand people attended the festival that is the brainchild of Polish journalist and social campaigner Jerzy Owsiak. He initiated the event to say thank you to those who donated money to his GOCC charity organisation that delivers medical care for children. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

“The fantastic landscape of Bagan in Myanmar features hundreds of temples and pagodas as far as the eye can see. Experiencing this sight at dawn from the basket of a hot air balloon will remain engraved in my memory for ever. Mick Ryan, judge – What a magical photograph and place. The Buddhist temples and pagodas fill the plains of Bagan in Myanmar at sunrise… the golden hour providing beautiful light to illuminate the retrogression of the temples and balloons toward a misty, mountainous distance. An excellent, exotic photograph that makes you want to book a flight”. (Photo by Alastair Swan/The Guardian)

Fans dressed as movie Star Wars characters pose as they cerebrate the Star Wars Day in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, May 4, 2016. May 4 is known as Star Wars Day among fans worldwide since the date sounds phonetically similar to the franchise's slogan, “May the Force Be With You”. (Photo by Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo)

Actress Violet McGraw, who played Cady in the film M3GAN, attends CinemaCon 2025 – Universal Pictures and Focus Features Invites You to a Special Presentation Featuring Footage from its Upcoming Slate at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace during CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, on April 2, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for CinemaCon)

Camp director and “duck walk” inventor (Rodin Gilbert Flores, 2nd R) teaches aspiring beauty queens how to “duck walk” at a beauty boot camp in Manila in this picture taken on March 8, 2015. From wading in muddy Philippine rice paddies, former housemaid Janicel Lubina now struts down runways for the country's top designers, and is poised to be crowned among the world's most beautiful. Lubina is a star recruit in one of Manila's beauty pageant boot camps, where shy, lanky teenage girls from remote farming provinces are transformed into poised Barbie dolls who can preach about world peace in six-inch heels. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)