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

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

The Chinese made the first ‘rockets’ about 1,000 years ago, but they were more like fireworks than today’s space rockets. They were flaming arrows that were fired from a basket using gunpowder.

Amazing! You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to build rockets. Lots of people make mini rockets as a hobby. There is even a yearly contest, when people show off their latest creations!

Is it true? Thrust SSC is a rocket-powered car.

No. Thrust SSC, the fastest car, has two jet engines. A jet engine could not power a space mission, because it needs air and there’s no air in space.

When did the first liquid-fuel rocket fly?

In 1926, American Robert Goddard launched a 3.5 metre long rocket. It flew about as high as a two-storey house, nowhere near outer space, and landed 56 metres away. The flight lasted just two-and-a-half seconds.

Who built a rocket for war?

Wernher von Braun invented the V2, a rocket missile used by the Germans in World War II. After the war, von Braun moved to the United States, to help with the new American space programme.

Picture Credit : Google

Rockets are important for space travel. They are the only machines powerful enough to launch things into space, such as satellites, probes and people. All the parts needed to build space stations have been carried up by rockets.

Amazing! The European Ariane rocket could carry a fully-grown elephant. Ariane’s biggest payload (cargo) so far was a satellite which weighed 4.6 tonnes.

How fast can a rocket go?

To escape from Earth’s gravity, a rocket has to reach 40,000 kph – almost 20 times faster than supersonic Concorde. Once it is out in space, the rocket drops down to around 29,000 kph to stay in orbit.

Is it true? Saturn 5 rockets were as tall as a 30-storey building.

Yes.  At 111 meters high, the Saturn 5 was the tallest rocket ever made. Most of the rocket fell away once it had done its job.

Why do rockets fall to pieces?

Rockets are made in stages, or pieces. Usually, there are three stages, made up of the fuel and rocket engines. Each stage drops off when its job is done. It takes a huge amount of power to push a heavy rocket into space.