Interesting Facts - Space

• Any free-moving liquid in outer space will form itself into a sphere, because of its surface tension.
• Mercury, Venus, earth and Mars are called the inner planets as they are closest to the sun!
• December 21st 1968, was the first time that humans truly left Earth, when Apollo 8 became the first manned space vehicle to leave Earth orbit and to orbit the Moon.
• Olympus Mons, a volcano found on Mars, is the largest volcano found in solar system. It is 370 miles (595 km) across and rises 15 miles (24 km).
• We know more about space than we do about our deep oceans!
• The space age began on the 4th October 1957.
• If you attempted to count all the stars in a galaxy at a rate of one every second it would take around 3,000 years to count them all.
• The one and only satellite that Britain has launched was called Black Arrow.
• The odds of being killed by space debris - 1 in 5 billion.
• The Earth's revolution time increases .0001 seconds annually.
• Driving at 75 miles (121 km) per hour, it would take 258 days to drive around one of Saturn's rings.
• Astronaut Neil Armstrong (the first man on the moon) first stepped on the moon with his left foot.
• The first conventional use for rockets was rocket mail and catching whales and deer.
• The only married couple to fly together in space were Jan Davis and Mark Lee, who flew aboard the Endeavour space shuttle from September 12-20, 1992.
• The first millennium, 1 - 1000 AD, consisted of 365,250 days. Our current millennium, 1001 - 2000 AD, will consist of 365,237 days. The third millennium, 2001 - 3000 AD, will consist of 365,242 days. The reason for the differences is the calendar system that was in use during the milleniums.
• If you shouted in space even if someone was right next to you they wouldn't be able to hear you.
• Feb 1865 and Feb 1999 are the only months in recorded history not to have a full moon.
• The first man-made satellite in space was called sputnik.
• Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
• Just 20 seconds worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the moon.
• The first woman in space was a Russian called Valentina Tereshkova.
• One Day on the planet Pluto is about the length of a week on Earth.