Facts About Spaceflight

Replica of Sputnik I at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

People have known how to make rockets for over a thousand years, but it was only in the 20th Century that it became possible to make a rocket that could go all the way to space.
The first time a rocket was launched into space was in World War II. It was carrying a bomb.
The first human-made object to orbit the Earth was Sputnik I, a small satellite launched by Soviet Russia 1957.
More rocket facts

The most distant place from Earth that any human has been is the Moon.
Spaceflight is bad for the human body. Astronaut's space missions are usually limited to six months in due to the ill-effects.
Astronauts train for micro-gravity in a huge pool with a full-scale underwater mock-up of space station modules.
Astronauts get a few centimeters taller in space (an inch or two).
When you sleep in space your ams float out in front of you.
You don't snore when you sleep in space.
The bulky white spacesuits can take hours to prepare and put on. Astronauts wear adult diapers under the suit.
Space helmets have a "valsalva device" so astronauts can clear their ears and sinuses, and scratch their noses.
The word "astronaut" comes from the Greek words "astron" (star) and "nautes" (sailor).
If you cry in space your tears don't fall, they just make a pool around your eye.

Every planet in our Solar System has been visited by at least one robotic probe.
The most distant human-made objects are the Voyager probes, sent from Earth in the 1970s.

One serious idea for getting better access to space is to build a "space elevator"—a huge ribbon or cable from the ground to space.

If two pieces of the same type of metal touch in space, they can bond and be permanently stuck together.
Space smells. You can't smell it directly because there's nothing to breathe in, but after being in space things smell like burned steak.
The first animals launched into space were fruit flies (in 1947).
The first space hotel will probably be made of inflatable modules.

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