Science News Roundup: Goodbye, Columbus: Vikings crossed the Atlantic 1,000 years ago; S.Korea prepares to launch first domestically produced space rocket and more

Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild returned to Earth on Sunday after gathering more than 30 hours of material for "The Challenge", billed as the first space movie and hailed by Russian media as a world-beating achievement.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Goodbye, Columbus: Vikings crossed the Atlantic 1,000 years ago

Long before Columbus crossed the Atlantic, eight timber-framed buildings covered in sod stood on a terrace above a peat bog and stream at the northern tip of Canada's island of Newfoundland, evidence that the Vikings had reached the New World first. But precisely when the Vikings journeyed to establish the L'Anse aux Meadows settlement had remained unclear - until now.

S.Korea prepares to launch first domestically produced space rocket

South Korea is scheduled to conduct its first test launch into space of a domestically-built rocket on Thursday in a major step toward jumpstarting the country’s space program.

The three-stage KSLV-II NURI rocket emblazoned with South Korea's flag stood on its launch pad at the Naro Space Center ahead of its scheduled 4 p.m. (0700 GMT) blast-off carrying a dummy satellite.

Alien world under Austria's doomed glaciers tells tale of their collapse

Scientists are venturing inside otherworldly ice caves growing beneath Austria's doomed glaciers to study why they are melting even faster than expected, and understand the fate that will befall glaciers elsewhere if climate change is not halted. It is already too late to save the glaciers of the eastern Alps, which scientists now say are past the point of no return and will be gone completely in the next few decades.

Russian space movie director says moon or Mars could be next

Russian film director Klim Shipenko said on Tuesday he was up for making a movie on the moon or even Mars after returning from 12 days of shooting aboard the International Space Station that transformed his ideas about the possibilities of cinema. Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild returned to Earth on Sunday after gathering more than 30 hours of material for "The Challenge", billed as the first space movie and hailed by Russian media as a world-beating achievement.

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