60 Interesting Facts About NASA

31-35 Interesting Facts About NASA

31. While filming of 1995 movie Apollo 13, four hours’ worth of film was shot at 25 second intervals on board NASA’s KC-135 (pictured above) reduced gravity aircraft – Source

32. U.S. and Russian astronauts aboard International Space Station have their own separate water supplies. While the U.S. water supply uses iodine for bacteria control, the Russian water supply uses silver. If these substances were to mix, a silver-iodine precipitate would form in the water, which may clog the sublimator in the NASA EMU spacesuit. – Source

33. NASA is building a bi-directional “Flying Wing” aircraft. It can fly forwards or sideways at full speed. – Source

34. Computers aborad Apollo 11 that put the first man on the moon had 1/6th the computing power of today’s TI-83 calculators. – Source

35. The Fallen Astronaut Memorial sculpture and plaque (the only piece of art on the moon) was smuggled onto Apollo 15 and installed in Mons Hadley without the knowledge of NASA. – Source

36-40 Interesting Facts About NASA

36. The potato has been studied by NASA as an important source of food for long manned space missions. It was found that the amount of potato plants needed to sustain one astronaut equaled the amount of potato plant required to process the air to breathe by one astronaut.

37. Carl Sagan (Astronomer) insisted that it was a common practice for NASA astronauts to be given cyanide pills in-case they could not return back to Earth. – Source

38. NASA granted a private company 500k to research and develop a model for a space elevators. – Source

39. NASA almost named part of the international space station “Serenity” after the ship in Firefly, but instead settled with its synonym, Tranquility. – Source

40. Area code for Kennedy Space Center in Florida and its surrounding areas is 321, given for its pronunciation resembling the countdown before liftoff. – Source

41-45 Interesting Facts About NASA

41. In 1965, NASA built a wind tunnel capable of reaching wind speeds of up to Mach 50. – Source

42. NASA took measures to prevent microorganisms from returning to earth on or in the Apollo capsules, because they weren’t sure that there was no life on the moon. – Source

43. NASA made the most perfect sphere ever created to test Einstein’s theory of relativity with no more than a difference of 40 atoms on its surface.

44. In 2006, NASA launched a probe to Pluto, just months before it was demoted to dwarf planet status. It was the fastest spacecraft ever launched by NASA and is still two years from arrival to the dwarf planet. – Source

45. NASA solved a $100 million vibration problem for 5 bucks by programming their screens to flicker. – Source

46-50 Interesting Facts About NASA

46. In June 2012, the National Reconnaissance Office donated 2 telescopes to NASA that are more powerful than the Hubble just because they were ‘obsolete’. Both of these satellites were never launched by NRO. – Source

47. Mars Rover “Curiosity” is officially designated by NASA as “she”.

48. The Shuttle Enterprise was originally meant to be named “Constitution.” However, after a letter-writing campaign by Star Trek fans directly to President Gerald Ford, he instructed NASA to change the name. – Source

49. NASA recorded the radio signature of Earth and converted it to an audible “Earthsong” – You can hear it here.

50. In 2006, NASA found a strange cosmic noise that boomsed six times louder than expected, known as the space roar. NASA scientists have yet to explain its source. They named it Space Roar. – Source

51-55 Interesting Facts About NASA

51. When Skylab (pictured above) reentered the atmosphere and crashed in Australia in 1979, Australian government fined NASA $400 for littering. The fine remained unpaid for 30 years. – Source

52. NASA has a tradition of playing a wake-up call for astronauts. These are usually songs such as “What a Wonderful World.” But they have also included other things such as a voice message from Patrick Stewart announcing the “voyage of the Space Shuttle Atlantis”. – Source

53. In order for NASA to recognize you as an astronaut, you must travel higher than 50 miles from the Earth’s surface. – Source

54. In the 1980’s, NASA developed a 502cc Stirling Engine w 83hp that got 41 mpg and could fit in a stock Chevy Cavalier. – Source

55. NASA has kept a journal of the impacts that their research has had on civilian technology since 1976. – Source

56-60 Interesting Facts About NASA

56. During the 1960s, NASA astronauts received a new corvette of their choice, each year for just $1. – Source

57. The Soviet probe Lunokhod 1 was lost for 38 years on the Moon until NASA found it and succeeded in using its reflector dish. – Source

58. In 1999, NASA lost a $125million Mars orbiter because half of the project staff used imperial measurements and the other half used metric. – Source

59. NASA chose Cape Canaveral as their launch site because it has higher linear velocity than other place in the continental USA. – Source

60. NASA did a study and found nuclear explosions actually are the best way to deflect any incoming asteroid and even designed a spaceship capable of performing similar mission. – Source