26-30 Spacecraft Facts
26. The tower on top of the Apollo spacecraft contained a launch escape system, which could eject the crew module safely away from an imminent rocket explosion. The tower contained a solid-fueled rocket and used the craft’s parachutes to get the crew to safety. – Source
27. The first spacecraft to reach another planet was launched from Kazakhstan. – Source
28. The Mariner 1 spacecraft exploded after takeoff due to a single digit of code missing from its software, a failure that cost NASA $18,000,000 in 1962. – Source
29. Using a planet’s gravity assist to accelerate spacecraft slightly slows the rotation of the planet. – Source
30. By the time Pioneer 11, launched in 1973, became the first spacecraft to fly by Saturn in 1979, both of the next-generation Voyager probes had already passed Jupiter. – Source
31-33 Spacecraft Facts
31. The USSR launched a highly secret, weaponized space station program called Almaz. The space station was armed with a rapid-fire cannon, making it the only weaponized spacecraft in human space-flight history. – Source
32. NASA launches spacecraft from different sites based on the direction of orbit; from Cape Canaveral for spacecraft requiring a west-east orbit, from Vandenberg Air Force Base for spacecraft requiring a north-south orbit. – Source
33. The Galileo spacecraft remotely detected life on Earth through experiments designed by Carl Sagan. – Source
