Category The Universe, Exploring the Universe, Solar System, The Moon, Space, Space Travel

Following the Apollo-1 fire, which comic character became the official mascot of aerospace safety?

Following the 1967 Apollo 1 fire disaster, NASA officials contacted Charles Schulz to use Snoopy as their safety mascot. Schulz helped design a pin for the Silver Snoopy award, which was presented to aerospace workers for outstanding contributions toward safer spaceflight operations. Later, during the Apollo 10 mission (which served as the dress rehearsal for the historic Apollo 11 moon landing), NASA dubbed the lunar module “Snoopy” and the command module “Charlie Brown.”

By March 1968, Snoopy was a full-fledged astronaut — and his mission was inspiring other NASA employees and contractors with the Silver Snoopy Award. This special honor is given to any non-military professional in recognition of their dedication to flight safety and successful missions.

Between 1968 and September 2013, the award has been given out to more than 14,000 people, and it is considered one of the highest honors for workers in the aerospace industry.

But even though he was all about safety, Snoopy’s involvement with the great space race has a little bit of adventure as well. Shultz continued his dedication to the program by creating some original artwork, including a comic that took Snoopy straight to the moon.

Snoopy actually beat everyone to the moon via comic strip and his flying dog house in March 1969 — four months before Neil Armstrong’s famous small step for man and giant leap for mankind.

 

Picture Credit : Google

What is the full form of the ISS?

The International Space Station (ISS) is a modular space station (habitable artificial satellite) in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project between five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which scientific research is conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields. The ISS is suited for testing the spacecraft systems and equipment required for possible future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.

The ISS is made up of different components like solar arrays. Its first component was launched in orbit in 1998 with Proton and Soyuz rockets launching it. It is a work station in space for experiments which is capable to hold large number of crew members at a time. Astronauts are transported between the earth and ISS with rockets. Cargo is transported through the Dragon rocket. It helps individual experiments and research and reduce the need of separate rocket launches and research staff.

Research includes material science, weather, natural disaster etc. Unlike unmanned spacecraft, ISS can send data on demand for the learning purpose of people on earth. This is only possible because of the invariable presence of crew members who replace each other from time to time. Scientists on earth use data sent by crew members of ISS for research.

 

Picture Credit : Google

What is the Universe?

Every person, planet, star and galaxy is part of the Universe — and even every empty space! The Universe is the biggest thing we have a word for.

Amazing! The Universe is too big to measure in kilometres. Even if you could travel at the speed of light, it would take at least 15 billion years to cross it – as far as we know!

What’s outside the Universe?

It’s impossible to say. Scientists are still trying to guess, by using clues left behind from the birth of our Universe. They are pretty sure there would be no time, distance or things there.

Where are we in the Universe?

People once thought Earth was at the centre of the Universe. Now we know Earth is one of many planets moving through space. It’s hard to tell where we are because we can’t see the Universe’s edges.

Is it true? There are more stars than people.

Yes. As a rough guess, scientists think that there are about 1.8 million million stars for every human being alive in the world today.

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Will we ever live on the Moon?

There might be a Moon Base, one day. The Moon is only three days away and its low gravity makes it easy to land spacecraft there. It would be a good place for telescopes, because there is no atmosphere to distort the pictures.

Is it true? We could never breathe on Mars.

No. We couldn’t breathe in the atmosphere there as it is, but we could build airtight cities and grow plants there that would make oxygen for us.

Might there be pirates in space?

If we ever set up space mining stations, spacecraft would zoom about the Solar System with very valuable cargos. Space pirates might try to board cargo-carrying craft to rob them!

Amazing! People are planning a space hotel. Holidays in space are not far off. There are plans for a doughnut-shaped space hotel, using old shuttle fuel tanks as rooms!

Will we ever live on other planets?

It will take a lot more probe missions before we could consider building bases on other planets. But if travel to other stars ever became possible, the outer planets could act as useful ‘petrol stations’.

Picture Credit : Google

Which probe snapped a comet?

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

Has anyone ever been to Mars?

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.

Picture Credit : Google