An artist's impression of a Japanese solar-powered 'space yacht'. Ikaros was successfully hauled into orbit by a H-IIA-launching rocket together with the Venus satellite 'Akatsuki'. The solar sail 'Ikaros' (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) resembles a wind kite; it measures 20 metres in diameter and is merely 0,0075 milimetres thin. It is made of polyimide and is powered by film solar cells and the pressure of sunlight particles. 'Ikaros' might clear the path for hybrid-powered space missions
The Bullet 580, the world's largest inflatable airship, stands in Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery, Alabama, following an inflation test. The airship will be flight tested later in the summer and will carry a joint NASA and Old Dominion University payload that will measure moisture content in soil. In addition to government research work, the airship can also be used for military, homeland security and disaster relief missions. It is designed to carry payloads of up to 2,000 pounds to 20,000 feet. Payloads are carried inside the outer envelope, which is made of a new type of Kevlar, one-sixteenth of an inch thick, but 10 times stronger than steel, according to designers
An artist performs with lasers during an event in Mumbai, India
A participant in an annual Wave-Gothic festival poses in Leipzig, Germany
More than 20 000 people are expected to attend the gothic festival in Leipzig
The Queen looks at a statue of Queen Elizabeth I, by sculptor Matthew Spender, during a visit to Westminster Abbey and Westminster School, on the 450th anniversary of the granting of their Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I
A ten-metre statue of Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo stands in a shopping mall in Lisbon
This shot shows a tornado forming just as it is about to touch the earth. Chris Harlan photographed the twister in in Parker, Colorado. It ripped across fields and damaged a few houses before petering out
A water spout (tornado) hits the sea behind a surfer on Sydney's Bondi Beach
One of a series of holiday pictures taken by British pensions consultant Tristan Brown at Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, the world's largest salt flat. The clear air and absence of identifiable features make them popular for such perspective-tricking shots
This image by Dr Armando Lee of the Astrocamp Observatory Services shows the planet Venus visible above the Moon as photographed from Pasay City, south of Manila, Philippines. The occurrence is called the lunar occultation of the planet Venus
NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman takes a self portrait while participating in the first of three spacewalks scheduled for the Atlantis space shuttle crew outside the International Space Station
David S. Krys's "Darth Fink" and Michelle Valigura's "Untitled" from The Vader Project, which consists of 100 helmets designed by some of the world's top pop culture artist
A woman walks past a model of "The Head and Cranial Nerves", which forms part of the exhibition "Da Vinci Secrets: Anatomy to Robots" at the Sydney Town Hall
Attack of the killer asparagus: aggressive asparagus spears have been pushing up through the tarred streets of Bibai on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido
An image of Nickelodeon cartoon Dora the Explorer created late last year by Debbie Groben of Sarasota, Florida, for a contest for the fake news site FreakingNews.com. The image, and others like it that question or make fun of the Latina cartoon character's immigration status and country of origin, have been in wide circulation since Arizona passed a controversial immigration law. Groben, who is against the immigration law, said she just created it for fun and didn't know it would enter the immigration debate
This picture released by Greenpeace shows an aerial view of spilled oil being burnt off seven miles northeast of the location where the Deepwater Horizon wellhead sank off the Louisiana coast
A Greenpeace activist steps through oil on a beach along the Gulf of Mexico near Venice, Louisiana
E.J. Viso, of Venezuela, hits the wall in the first turn during practice for the Indy 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
A tow truck operator tries to figure out how to tow a Jeep after the driver drove through the back wall of his own garage, falling one storey to the ground, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The driver said that as he was returning home, the vehicle's accelerator stuck and he couldn't stop before hitting the house. The driver was not hurt
Police direct people away fearing further collapse as firefighters try to extinguish a fire in Thailand's largest shopping complex, Central World in Bangkok, the second largest in Asia
A soldier holds a rifle in front of a giant image of Vietnam's late revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, outside a ceremony to celebrate his birthday in Hanoi
Canadian PVT Adam Sheridan from Stouffville, Ontario, crosses through the HQ doors in Camp Sperwan Ghar, Afghanistan
Venezuela's Angel Granados is punched by Takashi Uchiyama of Japan during their WBA super featherweight title bout in Saitama, north of Tokyo. Uchiyama retained his title by beating Granados in a technical knockout in the sixth round
Afghan workers employed to clean the area of debris after a suicide attack take shelter from a sudden downpour underneath their wheelbarrows in Kabul
Sri Lankan army soldiers take cover from rain as they wait for the start of the rehearsal of a Victory Day parade scheduled for Thursday, in Colombo
Two underwear-clad cycling fans run next to the peloton in Napa County during the second stage of the Amgen Tour of California
Miss Michigan Rima Fakih reacts as she is crowned Miss USA 2010 by Kristen Dalton, Miss USA 2009, in Las Vegas...
Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff attend the Chopard 150th Anniversary Party at Palm Beach, Pointe Croisette, Cannes. They wrote a series of physics papers about the Big Bang, which caused a great deal of controversy. The twins, now 60, host popular science TV shows in France...
elazz 
hmmm...
Meka Ela 
