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

In 2020, which astronaut completed the longest-ever single space-flight by a woman?

NASA astronaut Christina Koch has completed the longest-ever single spaceflight by a woman.

The Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Koch parachuted down to the grasslands of Kazakhstan at around 09:12 GMT.

She spent 328 days on the International Space Station (ISS), surpassing the previous record held by fellow American Peggy Whitson.

Her stay is just 12 days short of the all-time US record set by Scott Kelly, who was on the ISS from 2015-2016.

During her mission, Koch completed six spacewalks — including another two with Meir — and spent 42 hours and 15 minutes outside of the station.

Koch also devoted much of her time to a variety of experiments and investigations. The space station acts as an orbiting laboratory that can be used to test how different aspects of everyday human life on Earth react to the lack of gravity.

On the station, astronauts experience a plethora of science activities. Sometimes, they’re the test subject, contributing to studies about human health in space. Other times, they’re working with scientists on Earth to test their experiments.

 

Picture Credit : Google

In 2007, who became the first woman to command the International Space Station?

On just her second spaceflight, Expedition 16, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson became the first woman to command the International Space Station.

This year marks a milestone in spaceflight history, 20 years of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station (ISS)

She became NASA’s first ISS Science Officer during her first flight (Expedition 5), the first female ISS commander with her second (Expedition 16), and the first two-time female commander of the ISS with her third and final stay on station (Expedition 50/51/52).

She has conducted 10 spacewalks totaling 60 hours and 21 minutes, holding the record for most spacewalks by a female astronaut. Whitson has also logged 665 days in space, the most for any American astronaut, placing her in the eighth spot on the all-time space endurance list.

From Oct. 2009 to July 2012, Whitson served as the Chief of the Astronaut Corps, the first woman and non-military astronaut to fill the role.

In 2018, Whitson retired from NASA.

 

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Which is the first American woman in space?

On June 18, 1983, NASA Astronaut Sally K. Ride became the first American woman in space, when she launched with her four crewmates aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-7.  Ride and five other women had been selected in 1978 for NASA Astronaut Group 8, the first American selection class to include females.  With the advent of the space shuttle, NASA expanded astronaut selection from only pilots to scientists and engineers, and women became eligible for selection.  NASA announced Ride and her classmates to the public on Jan. 16, 1978.

NASA announced Ride would be part of the STS-7 crew on April 30, 1982, serving as mission specialist and joining Commander Robert L. Crippen, mission specialist John M. Fabian, physician-astronaut Norman E. Thagard and pilot Frederick H. Hauck on the historic flight.

Over six days, the crew’s complex tasks included launching commercial communications satellites for Indonesia and Canada and deploying and retrieving a satellite using the shuttle’s robotic arm. Ride, who was 32 at the time, was the first woman to operate the shuttle’s mechanical arm. 

 

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Which is the second woman to travel into space was also the first woman to fly to space?

Svetlana Savitskaya was just the second woman to reach space. She was also a record-breaking jet pilot. Savitskaya was born in Moscow in 1948, and likewise started skydiving as a teenager. Her father, a high-ranking officer in the Soviet military, was allegedly unaware of her skydiving exploits. However, he soon supported her passion for flying jets, and Savitskaya quickly found herself competing in aerobatic competitions.

In 1970, while she was still in her early 20s, Savitskaya won the prestigious competition: the World Aerobatic Championship. That flying prowess helped her earn a spot as a cosmonaut, and she went on to earn her astronaut wings in 1982. That made her just the second woman to travel to space, following Tereshkova’s in 1963. Unlike Tereshkova, however, Savitskaya did get to fly a second time, making her the first woman to travel to space multiple times.

 

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Do all the planets and their moons have active volcanoes?

For many years, scientists believed that Jupiter’s moon lo was geologically dead. This means it didn’t have things such as earthquakes, newly forming mountains or volcanoes. However, it turns out the scientists were wrong about lo. In 1979, when NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft took close up pictures of lo, the pictures showed a massive plume erupting from lo’s surface into space. That’s when they realise that lo did not just have volcanoes, it had active volcanoes. And, lo was no longer considered geologically dead. When these pictures were taken it was the first time an erupting volcano was found anywhere other than Earth. So that leaves us wondering, do all the planets and their moons have active volcanoes? Let’s take a look

Mercury: The planet once had active volcanoes, but not anymore. Scientists believe violent volcanic eruptions that shaped Mercury’s surface, likely ended about 3.5 billion years ago.

Venus: Venus, on the other hand is covered with volcanoes. The hottest planet in our solar system has over 1,000 volcanoes, including some that might still be active, according to what scientists think.

Mars: Mars is home to Olympus Mons, the solar largest volcano in our system. It is also the mountain in our solar largest led our solar system Mars is filled with tall volcanic mountains, and while scientists haven’t seen an eruption on Mars, they think there could be some in the future.

Jupiter: Scientists have found volcanoes and observed volcanic activity only on lo, Jupiter’s moon. Eruptions from lo’s volcanoes are so massive that it can been seen by a spacecraft that is pretty far from lo.

Saturn: Saturn’s moon Enceladus has cryovolcanoes. These volcanoes are similar to regular volcanoes, except they spew water and other gases like geysers.

Uranus: Since it is a gas planet, it does not have any volcanoes.

Neptune: While Neptune doesn’t have volcanoes as it is a gas planet, its frozen moon, Triton, has cryovolcanoes that are active.

 

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How hot or cold are other planets?

While we experience Earth’s many weather conditions each year, let’s see how the weather is on the remaining seven planets.

Mercury

Due to its closeness to the Sun the planet goes through extreme temperatures. In the

daytime, the Sun appears three times larger and over 10 times brighter than on Earth. This pushes temperatures to nearly 800 degrees Fahrenheit. And since there is no atmosphere in Mercury, the daytime heat cannot be trapped. Hence, temperatures can drop as low as 300 degrees Fahrenheit during night time

Venus

While Venus is farther away from the Sun than Mercury, it is the hottest planet in the solar system. This is because Venus is covered by a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide and clouds made of sulphuric acid. Together, these act like a greenhouse, trapping heat and warming the planet. On average, temperature on Venus can reach as high as 847 degrees Fahrenheit

Mars

Mars weather is the closest to Earth’s. Daytime temperatures on the planet can be close to Winter temperatures on Earth, reaching as high as 32 degrees Fahrenheit. However since it has a thin atmosphere, night temperatures can be as low as -200 degrees Fahrenheit

Jupiter

Since it is far away from the Sun, the planet is only slightly heated up by the star. Jupiter gets most of its heat from the inside of the planet. The temperature of the planet varies in the layers of Jupiter’s atmosphere. On average, Jupiter’s temperature is -234 degrees Fahrenheit.

However, closer to its core, the temperature can go up to 43,000 degrees Fahrenheit!

Saturn

Saturn is really far away from the Sun about 1.4 billion km away Hence, the planet has relatively freezing temperatures throughout which averages at -285 degrees Fahrenheit.

Uranus

The planet is known as an ice giant, and truly so. Is temperature is about 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Due to Uranus being tilted on its own axis, it also experiences different seasons like Earth.

Neptune

Neptune is the farthest planet in the solar system. It is about 3.7 billion km away from the Sun. While that would make it a freezing planet, its temperature is the same as Uranus (-360 degrees Fahrenheit). It is still a mystery to scientists as to why this is so.

 

Picture Credit : Google