Tag: Exploration and Explorers

A Father’s Fame, a Son’s Obsession and the Mystery of Flag No. 98

It arrived without fanfare or explanation, marked Lot No. 313 at the J. James Auction House in Plymouth, Mass. A simple flag, bearing an “E” and a “C” alongside a compass star, against a red, white and blue background. Few would see it and care. But in New York City, alerts sounded on phones and […]

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Practicing for a Mars Mission in the Utah Desert

In May 1996, an autonomous resupply vehicle docked with Russia’s ailing Mir space station. It carried the usual items — food, clothes, scientific equipment — along with much more cherished ones. The American astronaut Shannon Lucid received M&Ms. For the two cosmonauts, Yuri Usachev and Yuri Onufriyenko, there were perfume-scented letters offering a welcome respite […]

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A Columbus Letter Beloved by Thieves and Forgers Hits the Market

The last time Christie’s sold a copy of a famed 15th-century pamphlet announcing Christopher Columbus’s first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean was in 1992, and it did not end well. It later emerged that the document had been stolen, and it was eventually repatriated to Italy. That wasn’t the only one. Since the early 1990s, […]

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