25 Out of This World Facts About Space

1. "The Pioneer 10 space probe passed the orbit of Neptune, the furthest planet away from the Sun at the time, on June 13, 1983. It was the first man-made object to leave the Solar System." - u/theID10T

2. "With flight director Gene Kranz, it took a $5 million campaign to restore the original Mission Control room at NASA Johnson Space Center in 2019, with thousands of backers from 25 countries. Flight control consoles were restored and wall displays were reactivated with Apollo-era projections" - u/vancouver_reader

3. "Karman line is the border that separates the Earth's atmosphere from outer space. It is defined as being 100 km above sea level by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. This is regarded as the starting point of outer space, i.e. where the atmosphere is too thin to support flight." - u/SunCloud-777

4. "The first book featuring a ship going into outer space and meeting aliens was written in the 2nd century AD" - u/nasandre

5. "The curvature of space is (mostly) NOT what causes Earth's gravity - it's the curvature of the *time* component of space-time which "pulls" us toward the Earth" - u/WpgMBNews

6. "On Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions, astronauts had to do everything in their seats beside their crewmates due to limited space, including eating, sleeping, and toilet" - u/vancouver_reader

7. "Félicette, the first and only cat that was successfully launched into space" - u/lemond4455

8. "Oxygen candles", which release oxygen when burned. They are used as an emergency supply of oxygen in submarines, airplanes, and the space station." - u/Messier_82

9. "The space probe Voyager 2 looses about 4 watts of power annually due to natural decay of its nuclear fuel." - u/jammin320

10. "Astronaut John Young smuggled a corned beef sandwich into space aboard the Gemini 3 mission. He hid the sandwich in his spacesuit pocket and shared it with the other crew members. NASA banned smuggled sandwiches from future missions." - u/MorsesTheHorse

11. "In space, there's only 9 to 12 seconds to be conscious outside the airlock and humans are totally rescuable for at least 30 seconds." - u/coffeenerd75

12. "Coca-Cola and Pepsi created prototype soda cans for use by astronauts in space." - u/YEETAWAYLOL

13. "Time passes slightly slower on the International Space Station relative to Earth. This means that for every 6 months on Earth, a clock on the ISS will read .007 seconds behind"

14. "The space shuttle would orbit tail-first due to space debris, this allowed it to take a greater proportion of the debris load on the engines and rear cargo bay, which were not needed in orbit or during descent." - u/Garchy

15. "Apollo astronauts did not have a space toilet. They had a plastic bag with an adhesive rim which they stuck to themselves. After relieving themselves, they had to add disinfectant to the bag and knead it by hand until thoroughly mixed." - u/jwhat

16. "The Soviet Union captured the first images of the far side of the moon in 1959 using radiation-resistant film recovered from a downed US spy balloon. This technology was essential to protect the film from radiation in space, and the Soviets were unable to produce their own at the time." - u/I_Like_Your_Username

17. "NASA has a DAM (Debris Avoidance Maneuver) process for the International Space Station due to all the space debris - approximately 23,000 objects" - u/ForthWorldTraveler

18. "NASA and LEGO have a long history of collaboration, for example in 2010 LEGO released NASA-inspired products, together with NASA, developed innovative educational STEM-related activities and products. Several of the educational LEGO sets flew on board the International Space Station (ISS)." - u/purpleowlie

19. "We are in an interstellar space bubble where the density of gas is a lot less that the interstellar medium in the rest of the galaxy." - u/Mtbguy56

20. "NASA images the dark side of the moon only twice a year as the moon passes between Earth and the DSCOVR spacecraft." - u/AlmightyGoatGirl

21. "The Hubble Space Telescope was engineered in part to reuse manufacturing technologies from pre-existing spy satellites. This includes choice of mirror size which permitted reuse of "KH-11" mirror polishing equipment, and overall size & shape for shipping and launch." - u/alecmuffett

22. "Suction cups and toilet bells don't work in space." - u/markidak

23. "On July 9, 1962 , a nuclear bomb called "Starfish Prime" was successfully detonated in outer space as a part of the program ‘Operation Fishbowl" following two failures that resulted in radioactive material falling to earth from 35,000 feet." - u/siamesebengal