Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft. Although generally reserved for professional space travelers, the terms are sometimes applied to anyone who travels into space, including scientists, politicians, journalists, and tourists.

Starting in the 1950s up to 2002, astronauts were sponsored and trained exclusively by governments, either by the military or by civilian space agencies. With the suborbital flight of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of astronaut was created: the commercial astronaut.

Definition

The criteria for what constitutes human spaceflight vary. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) Sporting Code for astronautics recognizes only flights that exceed an altitude of 100 kilometers (62 mi). In the United States, professional, military, and commercial astronauts who travel above an altitude of 50 miles (80 km) are awarded astronaut wings.

Astronaut (song)

"Astronaut" is the third single that was taken from Simple Plan's fourth studio album, Get Your Heart On!. In December 2012, the song was played in orbit in space by astronaut Chris Hadfield.

Music video

The music video was directed by Mark Staubach and premiered on 19 September 2011. It was filmed in the desert of California. The clip opens with a message that read, "Being human is the most terrible loneliness in the universe" and continues to show a lone man exploring an empty space. He keeps looking around and around for something, or rather someone, to fill a void in his heart. The female lead for the clip is Caitlin O'Connor, a model/actress, who has previously played in music videos for Michael Bublé and New Found Glory.

The song was nominated in the category Best International Video by a Canadian band to 2012 MuchMusic Video Awards.

In the video, the man is seen with a name tag that says P. Cunningham. The same name was used for the drunk driver in the music video for "Untitled."

Astronaut (Duran Duran album)

Astronaut is the 11th studio album by English pop rock band Duran Duran, first released on 11 October 2004 (see 2004 in music).

This was Duran Duran's first studio album since Pop Trash (2000), and the first (and, to date, last) full album since Seven and the Ragged Tiger (1983) to be recorded by the most famous five member lineup of the band (the stand-alone 1985 single "A View to a Kill" was their last studio recording together.)

The making of the album

Duran Duran originally announced a reunion of the most famous five members in 2001, and began writing new music together in the south of France. They continued to write and record intermittently, working hard for a few months at a time, throughout 2002 and 2003. The band's friend Nile Rodgers did preliminary production work on several tracks.

Meanwhile, the search for a record label went on, complicated by the band's desire for independence, control, strong promotional support, and a commitment for more than one album, at the same time that the cash-strapped and risk-averse recording industry was unwilling to gamble on the "leftover fame" of a band best known for a series of 20-year-old hits.

Hilt

The hilt (rarely called the haft) of a sword is its handle, consisting of a guard, grip and pommel. Also meaning To the limit; completely: played the role to the hilt. Idiom: to the hilt. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A ricasso may also be present, but this is rarely the case. A tassel or sword knot may be attached to the guard or pommel.

Pommel

The pommel (Anglo-Norman pomel "little apple") is an enlarged fitting at the top of the handle. They were originally developed to prevent the sword slipping from the hand. From around the 11th century in Europe they became heavy enough to be a counterweight to the blade. This gave the sword a point of balance not too far from the hilt allowing a more fluid fighting style. Depending on sword design and swordsmanship style, the pommel may also be used to strike the opponent (e.g., using the Mordhau technique).

Pommels have appeared in a wide variety of shapes, including oblate spheroids, crescents, disks, wheels, and animal or bird heads. They are often engraved or inlayed with various designs and occasionally gilt and mounted with jewels. Ewart Oakeshott introduced a system of classification of medieval pommel forms in his The Sword in the Age of Chivalry (1964) to stand alongside his blade typology. Oakeshott pommel types are enumerated with capital letters A–Z, with subtypes indicated by numerals.

Hilt (disambiguation)

Hilt may refer to one of the following.

Hilt (band)

Hilt was a collective group of Vancouver musicians, usually referred to as a side project of the group Skinny Puppy. The group comprised Alan Nelson, a seminal member of many local Vancouver rock and punk groups, on vocals, with cEvin Key and D.R. Goettel on instruments.

Description

Originally named The Flu, the group was assembled whenever cEvin and Dwayne lived temporarily in Toronto while away from touring/recording with Skinny Puppy. They released a few cassettes in Europe, composed of material that was very much a precursor to Hilt. In 1989, Key and Goettel's label Nettwerk made a bet with the group that they could not produce and record an album for a low budget, reputedly $15,000. They accepted, and the result is the lo-fi debut Call the Ambulance (Before I Hurt Myself). An EP followed in 1991, entitled Orange Pony, with the follow-up LP Journey to the Center Of the Bowl.

During the years of 1992-1995, Key and Goettel focused on Skinny Puppy, putting Hilt on the side. After the untimely ends of both Skinny Puppy and Goettel, Key continued recording his many side projects, which included Hilt. Sessions with Al Nelson continued in 1996, with three songs recorded as a result. Al Nelson died from complications due to diabetes on January 23, 2000. Key lamented (verbatim): "Al was the nicest and most real person I have ever known. He had a sense of humour that could make anyone smile. He was incredibly talented. He was very dedicated to his friends, and his heart was beautiful. He will be greatly missed."