Space Facts

Space Facts

A volcano on Mars is 50 miles high and 370 miles across.

 

Space Facts


NASA, Public
domain (link).

  1. The original commercial rockets required launch teams of hundreds of engineers and technicians. Some rockets now require only eight people.
  2. After the engineers had fixed Falcon 1 they spent 3 months testing their changes.
  3. A rocket reaches its maximum dynamic pressure when it pushes through the atmosphere at 370,000 feet.
  4. Some people think that NASA does not focus on important things. Instead of researching Venus which has greenhouse problems, NASA looks at frigid Mars.
  5. 5 different ways to get to Mars are chemical propulsion, antimatter propulsion, nuclear thermal propulsion, solar sail and ion propulsion.
  6. Space Ship One is a glider, a rocket, and a spacecraft.
  7. A NASA study showed that if a ticket to space cost $100,000 about 1 million people would buy a ticket.
  8. You can fly Virgin Galactic’s Space Ship Two and experience weightlessness for 5 minutes for $200,000.
  9. In 2018, when four lunar astronauts go up into space, old-timers could be confused with Apollo because of the design.
  10. After an extended time in space astronaut Don Petit’s muscles were so weak that he had to crawl out of his space capsule.
  11. After 6 months in space your head swells with fluid and becomes puffy. Your inner ear sends conflicting signals which causes space sickness. Your heart enlarges and its beat slows down. Your stomach has a free falling sensation. Your legs become thinner. Your spine becomes straighter adding two inches of height.
  12. Neil Armstrong was the first man on the Moon.
  13. Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space.
  14. Alan Shepard was the first American in space.
  15. The first satellite was Sputnik.
  16. The three main space programs in America were projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.
  17. Earth is the third planet from the sun.
  18. The sun is a medium sized star.
  19. Mercury is the planet closest to the sun.
  20. Apollo 13 almost crashed.
  21. Apollo 11 was the first craft on the moon.
  22. The moon orbits the Earth which orbits the sun.
  23. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way.
  24. The moon orbits the Earth about every month.
  25. The Space Race took place in the Cold war.
  26. Before the ISS there was a station called Mir.
  27. Earth takes about 365 days to make a complete orbit.
  28. Earth only has 1 moon.
  29. Jupiter has a giant red spot on it that is a storm.
  30. NASA’s first satellite mission failed.
  31. There were 17 Apollo missions.
  32. Some people are thinking of space diving.
  33. Astronauts can rate their food on a scale of 1-9.
  34. Several Mercury capsules landed in the Atlantic Ocean.
  35. The first Apollo missions were unmanned.
  36. The European lab, Columbus, is the first permanently crewed lab.
  37. There is very little gravity on the moon.
  38. There is lots of moon dust on the moon.
  39. You can always only see half of the moon when it is full.
  40. The first dog in space was called “Barker” in Russian.
  41. Russia sent flies into space.
  42. In winter the Earth is actually closer to the sun.

©2008 ThinkQuest Team #00861