Category Astronomy

The Giotto space probe visited Halley’s Comet in 1986 and took brilliant photos of the comet’s rocky core. Even though Giotto kept a safe distance of about 600 km, its special protective shields got covered in icy dust.

Amazing! A probe carries a message for aliens. The Pioneer 10 probe was fitted with a plaque, just in case it’s ever found by aliens. It shows a man and woman, and a map to show where Earth is in the Universe.

Is it true? A probe was made out of junk.

Yes. Magellan, sent to visit Venus in 1989, was made up of spare parts from other missions.

Which spacecraft flew furthest?

Voyager 2, launched in 1977, has flown past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Now it is beyond our Solar System, heading into interstellar space.

Which probe is as big as a bus?

The bus-sized Cassini space probe has another probe, called Huygens, on board. It should reach Saturn in 2004. Cassini will beam data back to Earth about Saturn’s rings, moons and the planet itself.

Picture Credit : Google

No, not yet, anyway! The distance from Earth to Mars varies from 56 million km to 400 million km. Even at its closest, Mars would be a six-month journey away.

Is it true? Vikings landed on Mars.

Yes. In 1976, two space probes called Vikings 1 and 2 landed there. During their mission, they collected samples and took over 3,000 photos.

What used balloons to land on Mars?

The Mars Pathfinder probe entered the Martian atmosphere on 4 July, 1997. It used a parachute and rockets to slow down and then a bundle of balloons inflated around it so that it could bounce safely down on to the surface.

Amazing! Pathfinder landed in a river! Although there is no liquid water on Mars now, the rocky plain where Pathfinder touched down showed signs that water had flowed there once.

Which robot explored Mars?

Pathfinder carried a robot car called Sojourner, which was radio-controlled from Earth. It had a camera and devices for studying the soil and rock.

Astronauts either add water to waterless food, or they eat ready meals, such as stew or pasta. Canned fruit, puddings, biscuits, sweets and gum are all on the menu, too.

Is it true? Astronauts eat freeze-dried ice cream.

No. The ‘astronaut ice cream’ sold in the shops isn’t really eaten in space. But on the Mir space station, American astronauts took out an ice cream feast to share with the Russian cosmonauts!

Why doesn’t the food float away?

Everything floats about in space, so meals are eaten from trays stuck to astronauts’ clothes. Drinks come in a cup with a lid and are sucked up through a straw.

Amazing! Some astronauts get space sickness! Floating makes many astronauts throw up, and if they’re not careful the sick flies everywhere! Luckily, the sickness wears off after a day or two.

How do astronauts wash?

The Skylab space station had a shower fitted with a vacuum cleaner to suck off the water, but there’s no room for a shower on the shuttle. Astronauts use wet wipes, and clean their hair with rinseless shampoo.

Space suits act like a suit of armour. They stop an astronaut’s blood boiling in space, and reflect the Sun’s dangerous rays. They have a built-in backpack, containing an oxygen supply, battery and cooling system.

Amazing! Astronauts are water-cooled! A system of tubes sewn into the space suit carries cool liquid around to keep the astronaut’s temperature normal.

Is it true? Cosmonauts took off in their underwear.

Yes. In the early days of Russian space travel, space suits were worn only for spacewalks. Some cosmonauts just wore their underwear at take-off time!

Do astronauts wear space suits all the time?

No. They wear them for spacewalks, and during take-off, landing or when they dock with another craft. The rest of the time, astronauts wear shorts and a tee shirt.

How do you go to the toilet in a space suit?

Astronauts often need to wee during take-off! Women wear an extra-absorbent nappy inside their suit. Some men prefer to do this too, but others wear a special sleeve that carries wee to a storage pouch inside the suit.

Picture Credit : Google

The very first person to step on to the Moon was the American Neil Armstrong, in 1969. He had flown there in Apollo 11 with Buzz Aldrin, who followed him on to the Moon’s surface, and Michael Collins.

Amazing! There should have been seven manned missions to the Moon. Two days into Apollo 13’s journey to the Moon, its oxygen tanks exploded. It took a nail-biting four days to bring its crew safely back to Earth.

How many Moon missions were there?

There were six manned Apollo landings on the Moon and about 80 unmanned ones too. Apollo 17 landed the last astronauts on the Moon in 1972.

Is it true? There are footsteps on the Moon.

Yes. There is no atmosphere on the Moon, which means there is no wind either. Tyre tracks and footprints in the dusty surface will be there for hundreds of years.

Who first drove on the Moon?

In 1971, Apollo 15 carried a Lunar Rover. David Scott and James Irwin drove the battery-powered buggy over the Moon’s cratered surface, collecting samples of Moon rock.

Picture Credit : Google

A young Russian pilot called Yuri Gagarin was the first person in space. He orbited the Earth in a small capsule called Vostok 1 on 12 April, 1961. His journey lasted less than two hours.

Amazing! The first living creature in space was a Russian dog, called Laika. She made a seven-day journey in the space capsule Sputnik 2 in November 1957.

Who was the first woman in space?

The first woman in space was Russian, too. Valentina Tereshkova made a three-day space journey in Vostok 6 in 1963. The first American woman in space was Sally Ride, in 1983.

Is it true? A chimp could survive a space flight.

Yes. Ham was the first to try out the Mercury capsule in 1961. Despite travelling at 8,045 kph, the chimpanzee survived the 16-minute flight.

Who took the first spacewalk?

The cosmonaut (Russian astronaut) Alexei Leonov took a ten-minute spacewalk on 18 March 1965. To make sure he didn’t float off, Leonov tied himself to his capsule.

Picture Credit : Google