Interesting facts - space
- Any free-moving liquid in outer space will form itself into a sphere,
because of its surface tension.
- Mercury, Venus, earth and Mars are called the inner planets as they are
closest to the sun!
- December 21st 1968, was the first time that humans truly left Earth, when
Apollo 8 became the first manned space vehicle to leave Earth orbit and to
orbit the Moon.
- Olympus Mons, a volcano found on Mars, is the largest volcano found in
solar system. It is 370 miles (595 km) across and rises 15 miles (24 km).
- We know more about space than we do about our deep oceans!
- The space age began on the 4th October 1957.
- If you attempted to count all the stars in a galaxy at a rate of one every
second it would take around 3,000 years to count them all.
- The one and only satellite that Britain has launched was called Black
Arrow.
- The odds of being killed by space debris - 1 in 5 billion.
- The Earth's revolution time increases .0001 seconds annually.
- Driving at 75 miles (121 km) per hour, it would take 258 days to drive
around one of Saturn's rings.
- Astronaut Neil Armstrong (the first man on the moon) first stepped on the
moon with his left foot.
- "Moon" was Buzz Aldrin's (second man on the moon) mother's maiden
name.
- The first conventional use for rockets was rocket mail and catching whales
and deer.
- The only married couple to fly together in space were Jan Davis and Mark
Lee, who flew aboard the Endeavour space shuttle from September 12-20,
1992.
- The first millennium, 1 - 1000 AD, consisted of 365,250 days. Our current
millennium, 1001 - 2000 AD, will consist of 365,237 days. The third millennium,
2001 - 3000 AD, will consist of 365,242 days. The reason for the differences is
the calendar system that was in use during the milleniums.
- If you shouted in space even if someone was right next to you they wouldn't
be able to hear you.
- Feb 1865 and Feb 1999 are the only months in recorded history not to have a
full moon.
- The first man-made satellite in space was called sputnik.
- Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
- Just 20 seconds worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed
on the moon.
- The first woman in space was a Russian called Valentina Tereshkova.
- One Day on the planet Pluto is about the length of a week on Earth.
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Page last updated: 10 December 2008
by Zahra Mogul