Paul Brown invented the upside-down squeeze bottle valve in 1991 after 111 failed prototypes. He then sold his product to everyone from shampoo companies to Heinz to NASA. Four years later he sold his company for $13 million. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://thepatentprofessor.com/this-plucky-inventor-turned-our-world-upside-down/
Only three people (Norma Cretal, Buzz Corey and Jimmy Calunga) in the USA were qualified to hand-pack the massive parachutes for the Apollo space capsules. Their expertise was so vital, they were not allowed to ride in the same car together for fear of an accident. –WTF Fun Facts
Source:https://www.history.com/news/moon-landing-technology-inventions-computers-heat-shield-rovers
In 1989, NASA studied house plants as a means of providing clean and pure air for their space station. They found Peace Lilies and Florist’s Chrysanthemums to be the best all-around at filtering the air. – WTF Fun Facts
NASA’s Office of Inspector General once raided a Denny’s as part of a sting operation to bust a 75 year old woman for possessing and attempting to sell a paperweight containing a moon rock the size of a rice grain. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-woman-detained-moon-rock-20170413-story.html
On NASA’s Gemini XII flight, the computer docking system failed and Buzz Aldrin (who did his doctoral thesis at MIT on line-of-sight orbital mechanics) successfully calculated the docking trajectory using a sextant and a slide rule. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/gemini-xii-crew-masters-the-challenges-of-spacewalks
NASA cleverly chose the name Juno for it’s Jupiter mission. Jupiter’s moons are named after the god’s many mistresses. The Juno space probe sent to monitor Jupiter is named after his wife. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/juno-jupiter-galileo-sex-joke-2016-7
The specially created NASA Space Pen is used instead of a simple pencil because the graphite contained in pencils is conductive and can cause short circuits and potentially fires. – WTF Fun Facts
Spiders can get high and build very different kinds of webs while on weed, caffeine, mescaline and LSD. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/51967/what-does-marijuana-do-spiders
The U.S. military spent over US$20 billion a year on air conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s more than NASA’s budget. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.npr.org/2011/06/25/137414737/among-the-costs-of-war-20b-in-air-conditioning