Space Tourists airs tonight on the Documentary Channel at 8pm & 11pm

When Anousheh Ansari boarded the International Space Station on September 20th, 2006, she became the first self-funded female, the first Iranian citizen, and the fourth human overall to enter the Earth's orbit as a coveted 'space tourist'.

After building and selling a large telecom business, Ansari had decided that she would pay over $20 million USD to take a ride on the Russian Soyuz TMA-9 and orbit Earth as a crew member of the International Space Station for 8 days. While training as a backup for Daisuke Enomoto, who failed to meet the required medical qualifications, Ansari was notified that her lifelong dream would be fulfilled - with only one month remaining before liftoff.

Meanwhile, without Ansari's knowledge, a charismatic Swiss filmmaker had begun to collect material for a documentary that explored the peculiar circumstances of the Russian space tourism industry. Gathering footage at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia and at the Baikonur Cosmodrome (the Soyuz's launch facility), filmmaker Christian Frei began to lay the foundation for what would become the first documentary to uncover a highly exclusive and secretive world.

The finished product, Space Tourists, debuted in the US at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Thought it never had an overwhelming reception in North America, it is arguably one of the most fascinating travel-themed documentaries to have been produced in recent years and a must-see for anyone with a sense of adventure or a distant dream of venturing to space.

The Sermilik Fjord is a long, steep-walled waterway in southeast Greenland where hundreds of icebergs calve from Greenland's enormous ice sheets every year. Those looking to sail through the stunning fjord for a closer view of the icebergs depart from Ammassalik Island, where Greenland's seventh-largest town, Tasiilaq, is located.

Today's Video of the Day shares a vivid sample of a trip up the Sermilik Fjord, hosted by Borea Adventures, and captured by Vimeo user Haukur.

If you have imagery of a beautiful winter wonderland, we'd like to share it! Post a link in the comments below or submit photos to our Flickr Group - it could be our next Photo/Video of the Day!

The Yi Peng festival is a special event in Northern Thailand that occurs on the 12th full moon of every year. Coinciding with Loi Krathong (a festival celebrated throughout Thailand) it is observed by lighting sky lanterns and letting them float into the sky, resulting in what appears to be large flocks of giant jellyfish floating through the air.

There have been many fantastic videos and pictures that capture this event, but today's Video of the Day is especially stunning for one reason: it was completely shot on an iPhone 4S. Produced by Vimeo user Tada Archawong, it shows just how far a little color grading (with Magic Bullet Looks) and a great mobile camera can go.

So, adventurers; it may just be time to kiss your DSLR goodbye. If you've already said goodbye to traditional cameras in favor of mobile devices, we want to see what youv'e captured! Paste a link in the comments section below, or post pictures to our Flickr Pool - it could just be our next Photo/Video of the Day.

Transmongolia: Part Three - Click above to watch video after the jump

If you haven't seen this video since its emergence on the internet in the past two days, stop whatever you're doing, plug in your best headphones, quit your other applications (so you can watch in silky smooth HD), and full-screen this amazing compilation of moving images.

Edited by Michael König, this time-lapse was created by stitching together a series of still images shot by astronauts Ron Garan, Satoshi Furukawa, and the crews of expeditions 28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station. Shot from an altitude of 350km between August and October 2011, the images were captured at 4K resolution with NASA's Super-Sensitive High Definition TV system.

The imaging system picks up much more light than a normal HD camera is capable of, thus capturing a vivid look at the surface of the Earth and aurora borealis that's unlike anything humanity has seen before.

Assuming that you don't have $1 million to book an entire Virgin Galactic flight exclusively for your family, this video should be a pleasant placeholder until you get your finances in order. Until then, leave us a comment with a link to your favorite shots from the ground! It could be our next Photo/Video of the Day.

Why do you travel? For adventure? To know the unknown? To get lost? To find something?

Today's Video of the Day is an ad for a company called G Adventures that encourages viewers to get out and see "why Earth is the universe's #1 travel destination". The short piece does a beautiful job of illustrating some of the moments that beg us to travel, tailored to pull at the heartstrings of the crowd that doesn't want to be part of the crowd.

Have you found a photo or video that captures why you like to travel? Share it with us! Post a comment below or upload to our Flickr Pool and it could be our next Photo/Video of the Day.

Believe it or not, this isn't a leaked scene from the set of Lethal Weapon 5; it's just another day at the office for a few heroic members of the Brazilian Federal Police.

In what is sure to be the highlight of these officers' careers, a video uploaded to YouTube yesterday shows police in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil chasing down a group of smugglers attempting to take off in a small aircraft.

After gaining enough speed to catch up with the aircraft, the driver decides that the best course of action is to ram straight through the plane's wing, disabling the craft and allowing officers to arrest five suspects after a month-long investigation.

We're still wondering if there's a Federal Police policy for this sort of thing, or if the officers were just... winging it.

It's been a wild month for 'animals vs. adventurers' on Gadling. First, there was the antelope that tackled a cyclist harder than any NFL linebacker could, then there was the kayaker that got up close and personal with a blue whale, and finally, the South African motorcyclist that saved a calf from drowning in a canal.

Today's battle? An incredible video from Russian YouTube user Paravoffka, captured as he was paragliding high above the Indian Himalayas. Midway through his flight, a Himalayan Griffon Vulture became entangled in the slings of the main chute, causing Paravoffka to drop through the air like a rock (with an eagle clawing at it).

Luckily, Paravoffka deployed the emergency chute, which allowed him to regain enough control to crash land in a tree, breaking his fall and eventually allowing him to free the vulture. Incredible footage and a great example of another extreme situation handled well under pressure.

Have you battled any forces of nature recently? We want proof! Submit pictures to our Gadling Flickr Pool and leave video links in the comments section below. It could be our next Photo/Video of the Day!

Transmongolia: Part Two – Click above to watch video after the jump

After gaining my bearings in Ulaanbaatar and making a few friends over rocket propelled grenades, I set off for Ölgii - a dusty city of roughly 29,000 people and the capital of the remote province of Bayan-Olgii Aimag.

From Ulaanbaatar, the flight to Ölgii Airport was just 2 1/2 hours in a noisy Saab 340B. Flying over the wide expanses of the Gobi desert and Altai mountains, it was difficult to imagine that I'd be traversing everything that was passing below me in just under a week.

Joined by Mel, a journalist from an English newspaper, I arrived in Ölgii without much of a plan; to get a ride into town and hope to hitch a ride. But in order to find a team to ride with, the only thing we could do was sit by the side of the town's one main road and wait - hoping that whoever came along would be willing to pick up two outsiders carrying cameras and notepads.

Just one week ago on October 18th, an IranAir Boeing 727 landed at Tehran's Mehrabad airport without the use of its front landing gear, after the bay of the nose gear failed to open on approach.

The crew performed a landing without the nose gear on runway 29L and came to a stand still on both the main gear and the nose of the aircraft. The flight, traveling from Moscow to Iran, held 94 passengers and 19 crew members; none were injured in the landing.

Video of the landing has now surfaced on Youtube, demonstrating an incredibly skillful landing executed by the pilot and his crew.

Hats off to a job well done in a critical situation. If you've seen incredible rescue video online or witnessed an amazing safety performance on your travels, we want to see it. Leave us a link the comments below or submit your photos to our Flickr Pool. It could just be the next Photo/Video of the Day!