Space Tech at Home
Question: This soft material, invented by NASA in 1966 to keep test pilots safe, is now used in comfortable mattresses and pillows.
Answer: What is Memory Foam?
Question: Because there is no gravity pushing down on their spines, astronauts can temporarily grow up to this many inches taller.
Answer: What is 2 inches?
Question: This food preservation process removes all water from a meal, making it lightweight for rocket travel and keeping it from spoiling.
Answer: What is freeze-drying?
Question: True or False: Space is freezing cold everywhere, at all times.
Answer: False (In direct sunlight, it can get boiling hot!)
Question: NASA engineers built small, efficient CMOS sensors to take high-quality photos in space, which now live inside these everyday pocket devices.
Answer: What are cell phones (or cell phone cameras)?
Question: Without the constant resistance of Earth's gravity, these two parts of the human skeletal and muscular system quickly get weaker if astronauts don't exercise.
Answer: What are bones and muscles?
Question: Because floating fluid blocks their nasal passages like a common cold, astronauts find that most of their food tastes this way.
Answer: What is bland (or tasteless)?
Question: Despite the popular rumor, this massive, ancient structure in China is actually very hard to see from space without binoculars or a camera lens.
Answer: What is the Great Wall of China?
Question: This household item used to clean drinking water in your kitchen pitcher relies on technology NASA created to recycle water on spacecraft.
Answer: What is a water filter?
Question: Because gravity doesn't pull water and blood down to their legs, astronauts often get a "puffy" look in this part of their body.
Answer: What is their face (or head)?
Question: To make their bland food taste better, astronauts frequently add heavy amounts of this type of flavorful sauce to their meals.
Answer: What is spicy sauce (or hot sauce)?
Question: True or False: Asteroids floating in deep space are on fire and will burn your hand if you touch them.
Answer: False (They are freezing cold rocks and ice!)
Question: NASA helped design portable, battery-powered versions of this construction tool so astronauts could drill out rock samples on the moon.
Answer: What is a cordless drill?
Question: Astronauts have to spend this exact amount of time exercising every single day to stay healthy in orbit.
Answer: What is 2 hours?
Question: NASA heavily popularized this scratchy, pull-apart fabric fastener because it was perfect for sticking gear to walls so it wouldn't float away.
Answer: What is Velcro?
Question: When standing in direct sunlight out in space, temperatures can skyrocket past this many degrees Fahrenheit.
Answer: What is 250 degrees Fahrenheit?
Question: To protect space helmet visors from flying space dust, NASA created a diamond-like carbon coating that is now used to keep these everyday items scratch-free.
Answer: What are eyeglasses (or spectacles)?
Question: Like other muscles that don't have to work as hard in zero gravity, this vital chest organ actually shrinks slightly while in space.
Answer: What is the heart?
Question: Without gravity to make liquid fall, human tears will do this instead of rolling down an astronaut's cheek when they cry.
Answer: What is pool up into a floating liquid ball?
Question: The Great Wall of China blends in from space because it is built out of these natural materials that match the surrounding ground.
Answer: What are ordinary stone and dirt?