Past & Present Space Facts
Misc. Space
Future Aerospace Concepts
Sci-Fi & Space Movies
Aerospace Vehicle Tech
100
First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean
Amelia Earhart
100
What are there more of, trees on earth or stars in our galaxy?
There are more trees on earth than stars in our galaxy
100
What conceptual propulsion method relies on solar power rather than a fuel source?
Solar sailing
And without fuel, we could go interstellar.
100
Who shot first? Han Solo or Greedo?
Han Solo
100
What is the name of the first Space Shuttle to launch?
Columbia
200
This is the largest man-made object ever put into space and is still being used as a research vessel for Astronauts today
ISS: International Space Station
200
What material are NASA's Curiosity's wheels made of?
Aluminum
200
What is a proposed material strong enough to make a space elevator out of?
Carbon Nanotubes
200
What's the fastest speed a spaceship can travel according to the 1987 film, Spaceballs?
PLAID
200
This is the fastest plane to have ever flown. It was developed by Lockheed Martin and had its first test flight in 1964. It has never been hit by a single missile in its 25 years of service.
SR-71 Blackbird
300
This Astronaut stayed in orbit of the moon whilst Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong touched down on the lunar surface.
Michael Collins
300
Measurement of time NASA uses to keep track of how long the curiosity rover has been on Mars
Sol
300
What process is Elon Musk suggesting to effectively terraform Mars?
He has suggested nuking the atmosphere of Mars on both poles to simulate the effect of having two tiny suns that would heat up mars and turn the frozen CO2 into gas to create a greenhouse effect on the planet.
300
How does Mark Watney communicate to Earth from Mars in the 2015 film, "The Martian"?
Hexidecimal and a 360 degree camera
300
What determines an airplane's lifespan in terms of a materials standpoint?
How many takeoffs and landings the plane has executed. (Fatigue)
400
How long did the first dog to go to space live after takeoff?
Laika died 5-7 hours after takeoff due to stress and the capsule overheating. The Soviet Union told everyone that she lived for about a week after takeoff, but this was recently revealed as a lie.
400
What is the name of the physics effect whereby a mass moving in a rotating system experiences a force acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation.
Coriolis effect
400
What is Voyager 1's next destination?
Hint: Voyager 1 is past Pluto
A star named AC+79 3888 in 40,000 years
400
As illustrated in Interstellar, does time slow down or speed up for you the closer you get to the event horizon of a black hole?
Time slows down with proximity to immense gravity
400
How do aerospace companies test their jet turbine engines for failure before finalizing their designs?
They throw a frozen chicken into it
500
This NASA probe is planned to come in contact with an asteroid TODAY (12/3/2018) to collect rocks with a collection system designed by a URI Mechanical Engineering graduate, Jim Harris.
OSIRIS-REx: Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer)
500
What is the name of the Celestial Supercluster which contains the Milky Way and about 100,000 other nearby galaxies?
Laniakea, which means "Immense Heaven" in Hawaiian
500
Travelling at light speed, how long would it take to leave the milky Way galaxy?
It would take 30,000 years to leave the Milky Way travelling at light speed. Also, it would take 2.5 million years to reach Andromeda travelling at light speed!
500
What song did Hal: 9000 sing when being deactivated in 2001: A Space Odyssey?
"Daisy Bell" by Harry Dacre (Blur)
500
What is the bottom of the space shuttle made of?
Silica tiles