…that a
CubeSat
(pictured) is a cube, 10 centimetres in all dimensions, weighing less than one kilogram?
- …that the
Vostok 4
mission was shortened because
cosmonaut
Pavel Romanovich Popovich
accidentally told flight controllers that he was "observing thunderstorms". This was a coded signal requesting an abort because the cosmonaut was feeling ill, however Popovich was actually trying to inform ground controllers that he could see thunderstorms from space.
- ...that the last flight of the
Space Shuttle program
was on June 2011?
Usage
Facts 1-9 have pictures, and the other ones don't.
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Portal:Spaceflight/Did you know/2
…that the original videos of the
Apollo 11
astronauts walking on the Moon (pictured) were lost after the mission, and were reported to have been found in June 2009?
Portal:Spaceflight/Did you know/11
…that the
Vostok 4
mission was shortened because
cosmonaut
Pavel Romanovich Popovich
accidentally told flight controllers that he was "observing thunderstorms". This was a coded signal requesting an abort because the cosmonaut was feeling ill, however Popovich was actually trying to inform ground controllers that he could see thunderstorms from space.
Purge server cache
Archive
Fortnight
|
Did you know…
|
5 January 2006 - 2 January 2008
And
2008 Fortnight 1
|
|
2008 Fortnight 2
|
- ...that less than half of missions sent to
Mars
have failed, leading some people to think that Mars is
cursed
?
- ...that
Galileo
probe (pictured) discovered the first binary asteroid,
243 Ida
/
Dactyl
?
- ...that the
New Horizons
probe will pass within 10,000 kilometres of
Pluto
in 2015?
|
2008 Fortnight 3
|
|
2008 Fortnight 4
|
- …that the rocket that launched
Skylab
was a
Saturn INT-21
(pictured), not a
Saturn V
, as is commonly believed.
- …that the
N1 rocket
had 30 engines just to power its first stage.
- …that
Space Shuttle
mission
STS-8
was the first night launch and night landing in 1983 for the shuttle program.
|
2008 Fortnight 5
|
- …that
Space Shuttle
Enterprise
(pictured) was originally to be called
Constitution
, but was renamed after the
Starship Enterprise
from
Star Trek
.
- …that
Explorer 1
, the first
American
satellite, was launched just 84 days after the programme was started.
- …that the
Vostok 4
mission was shortened because cosmonaut
Pavel Romanovich Popovich
accidentally told flight controllers that he was "observing thunderstorms". This was a coded signal requesting an abort because the cosmonaut was feeling ill, however Popovich was actually trying to inform ground controllers that he could see thunderstorms from space.
|
2008 Fortnight 6
|
|
2008 Fortnight 7
|
|
2008 Fortnight 8
|
- ...that engineers claim the
Ares I
rocket (pictured) would be more aerodynamically stable if flying backwards than in the normal direction?
- ...that
STS-80
, a mission flown by the
Space Shuttle
Columbia
, lasted 17 days, 15 hours, 53 minutes and 18 seconds, making it the longest
Shuttle
mission
to date?
- ...that the
Ocean Odyssey
launch platform, used by
Sea Launch
, was originally built as an
oil rig
?
|
2008 Fortnight 9
|
- …and that the youngest person to fly in space was
Gherman Titov
, on
Vostok 2
(6 -7 August 1961), aged 25.
- …that
Soyuz TMA-13
, currently scheduled to launch on 12 October 2008, will be the 100
th
manned
Soyuz
flight.
|
2008 Fortnight 10
|
|
2008 Fortnight 11
|
- …that a
CubeSat
(pictured) is a cube, 10 centimetres in all dimensions, weighing less than one kilogram?
- …that to date 90
Explorer
satellites have been launched, the most recent being
AIM
in 2007?
- …that
Luna 1
became the first object to enter a
heliocentric orbit
after a guidance failure led to it missing its planned lunar impact?
|
2008 Fortnight 12
|
|
2008 Fortnight 13
|
|
2008 Fortnight 14
|
|
2008 Fortnight 15
|
|
2008 Fortnight 16
|
|
2008 Fortnight 17
|
|
2008 Fortnight 18
|
- …that
Pedro Duque
(pictured) became the first
Spaniard
in space, in November
1998
?
- …that the
Moon Treaty
was intended to restrict and regulate exploration of the Moon and other planets, but was not signed by any country with significant involvement in space exploration?
- …that
Luna 2
was the first spacecraft to land on the
Moon
?
|
2008 Fortnight 19
|
|
2008 Fortnight 20
|
|
2008 Fortnight 21
|
- …that a
CubeSat
(pictured) is a cube, 10 centimetres in all dimensions, weighing less than one kilogram?
- …that to date 90
Explorer
satellites have been launched, the most recent being
AIM
in 2007?
- …that
Luna 1
became the first object to enter a
heliocentric orbit
after a guidance failure led to it missing its planned lunar impact?
|
2008 Fortnight 22
|
- …that the
X-3
satellite (mockup pictured) was originally to be called
Puck
, but was renamed
Prospero
when the British Government announced that it would not attempt any more launches after it?
- …that since 1957,
orbital
launches have been conducted on every day of the year except
31 December
?
- …that the
Juno I
rocket was a derived from the
Jupiter-C
, but added an extra stage to allow it to reach orbit?
|
2008 Fortnight 23
|
|
2008 Fortnight 24
|
|
2008 Fortnight 25
|
|
2008 Fortnight 26
|
|
2009
Month
|
Did you know…
|
January 2009
|
- …that
2008 in spaceflight
saw an increase in orbital launch rates for the third year in a row?
- …that
Iran
intends to conduct its first indigenous launch in 2009, with a
Safir
and the
Omid
spacecraft?
- …that the
South Korean
KSLV-I
rocket, scheduled to make its maiden flight this year, is based on the Russian
Angara
(pictured)?
|
February 2009
|
|
March 2009
|
- …that the
X-3
satellite (mockup pictured) was originally to be called
Puck
, but was renamed
Prospero
when the British Government announced that it would not attempt any more launches after it?
- …that since 1957,
orbital
launches have been conducted on every day of the year except
31 December
?
- …that the
Juno I
rocket was a derived from the
Jupiter-C
, but added an extra stage to allow it to reach orbit?
|
April 2009
|
- ... that the
Saturn V
rocket which carried astronauts to the Moon develops power equivalent to fifty
Boeing 747
jumbo jets?
- ... that astronauts can't
burp
in space? A burp would need gravity to separate the liquid from the gas in their stomach.
- ... that a total of 5,000,000,000,000 bits of scientific data were returned to Earth by both
Voyager spacecraft
after the completion of the
Neptune
encounter? This represents enough bits to encode more than 6,000 complete sets of the
Encyclopædia Britannica
.
- ... that the energy released by three of
Rocketdyne
's
Space Shuttle Main Engines
is equivalent to the output of 37
Hoover Dams
?
|
May 2009
|
- …that
Space Shuttle
Enterprise
(pictured) was originally to be called
Constitution
, but was renamed after the
Starship Enterprise
from
Star Trek
.
- …that
Explorer 1
, the first
American
satellite, was launched just 84 days after the programme was started.
- …that the
Vostok 4
mission was shortened because cosmonaut
Pavel Romanovich Popovich
accidentally told flight controllers that he was "observing thunderstorms". This was a coded signal requesting an abort because the cosmonaut was feeling ill, however Popovich was actually trying to inform ground controllers that he could see thunderstorms from space.
|
June 2009
|
|
July 2009
|
- …that the original videos of the
Apollo 11
astronauts walking on the Moon (pictured) were lost after the mission, and were reported to have been found in June 2009?
- …that the first words from the surface of the
Moon
were "Contact light, okay, engine stop", spoken by
Buzz Aldrin
?
- …that the backup crew of Apollo 11 consisted of
Jim Lovell
,
Bill Anders
and
Fred Haise
, although after Anders announced his intention to retire,
Ken Mattingly
was also assigned in case the mission was delayed until after Anders had left? The backup crew, with Mattingly replacing Anders, was later assigned to
Apollo 13
.
|
August 2009
|
|
September 2009
|
- …that
2008 in spaceflight
saw an increase in orbital launch rates for the third year in a row?
- …that
Iran
conducted its first indigenous launch on 2 February 2009, with a
Safir
and the
Omid
spacecraft?
- …that the
South Korean
launch system
Naro-1
, which made its first flight on 25 August 2009, is based on the Russian
Angara
(pictured)?
|
October 2009
|
|
November 2009
|
|
December 2009
|
|
Nominations
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