space travel

WTF Fun Fact 13657 – Humanity’s Last Day Together

October 31, 2000, was humanity’s last day all humans were together on Earth.

Since that day, there has always been at least one person in space, marking a continuous human presence off our planet.

The International Space Station: A New Era

The event that initiated this ongoing human presence in space was the launch of Expedition 1 to the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS has since been home to astronauts from around the world. It serves as a research laboratory where scientific studies are conducted in microgravity.

Expedition 1 crew members, William Shepherd (USA), Yuri Gidzenko (Russia), and Sergei Krikalev (Russia), were the pioneers of this new era. They launched aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket and began what has become over two decades of continuous human occupation of the ISS.

The Significance of October 31, 2000: Humanity’s Last Day

This date is more than just a historical milestone. It signifies humanity’s leap into a future where living and working in space is a reality.

The ISS has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of space and science. Research conducted there has led to breakthroughs in medicine, environmental science, and materials engineering. The microgravity environment provides unique conditions for experiments impossible to replicate on Earth.

Future Missions

Living aboard the ISS has provided vital information about the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. This knowledge is crucial for planning future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Understanding how to maintain physical and mental health in space is key to the success of these ambitious projects.

As we look to the future, the legacy of October 31, 2000, continues to influence space policy and aspirations.

With plans for lunar bases and Mars expeditions, the horizon of human space habitation is expanding. The ISS has laid the groundwork for these future endeavors, proving that humans can live and thrive in the harsh environment of space.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the First International Space Station Module” — ISS National Laboratory

WTF Fun Fact 13619 – Jacobean Space Travel

Over three centuries before space travel to the Moon’s surface, England was the site of a little-known, audacious space proposal. The architect of this early space program was Dr. John Wilkins, a 17th-century scientist and theologian. Wilkins, also Oliver Cromwell’s brother-in-law, dreamed of a lunar voyage, crafting plans for a spacecraft propelled by an extraordinary blend of wings, springs, and gunpowder.

Wilkins’ Revolutionary Concept

In 1640, at the young age of 26, Wilkins penned a meticulous description of the machinery necessary for interstellar communication and even commerce with extraterrestrial beings. His proposal marked the first earnest contemplation of space flight, grounded in the era’s most credible scientific documentation.

Wilkins’ era, as delineated by Professor Allan Chapman of Oxford University, was a golden period of scientific revelation. This era rested between the astronomical breakthroughs of Galileo and Copernicus, who unveiled a universe with potentially habitable worlds, and the subsequent realization of the vacuum in space.

Wilkins hypothesized that Earth’s gravitational and magnetic influence spanned only 20 miles upward. Beyond this boundary, he posited, space travel to the Moon would be feasible. His vision was fueled by the era’s spirit of exploration, mirroring the terrestrial voyages of renowned explorers like Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh.

Divine Space Travel

Wilkins, balancing his scientific pursuits with theological insights, argued from a divine perspective. He believed that if God created other worlds, it was within divine providence to inhabit them. His design for a ‘flying chariot’ was a blend of clockwork, spring mechanisms, feather-coated wings, and gunpowder boosters – an embodiment of ingenuity and ambition.

However, by the 1660s, Wilkins’ theory began unraveling. Scientists like Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke demonstrated the vacuum of space, contradicting Wilkins’ assumptions. Wilkins also later understood the distinction between magnetism and gravity, realizing the impracticability of his ‘sphere of magnetic virtue.’

Wilkins’ notions of space travel also included some unconventional beliefs, like the reduced need for food in space. He reasoned that gravity’s pull on Earth necessitated food consumption to replenish the constantly emptying stomachs, a premise that would not apply in the vacuum of space.

Jacobean Space Travel, Grounded

Wilkins’ theories, while never tested, represented a remarkable leap in thinking. His vision, though grounded by later scientific revelations, paved the way for future explorations and opened a dialogue about space travel’s possibilities.

This early foray into space exploration, termed by Professor Chapman as the ‘Jacobean Space Programme,’ laid the foundational ideas that would much later catapult humans into space. Wilkins’ pioneering spirit, albeit based on flawed premises, showcased the boundless curiosity and ambition that drive human endeavors beyond Earth’s confines.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Cromwell’s moonshot: how one Jacobean scientist tried to kick off the space race” — The Independent

WTF Fun Fact 13494 – John Wilkins’ 17th-Century Moon Mission

The first “moon mission” was dreamed up in the 17th century by a clergyman named John Wilkins.

Though the technologies of his time were rudimentary, Wilkins’ imagination and theories displayed a unique combination of audacity and scientific curiosity.

Early Life and Philosophical Leanings

John Wilkins was born in 1614. He was an Anglican clergyman and a founding member of the Royal Society, a body dedicated to the promotion of natural science. Wilkins was a polymath with interests ranging from theology to mathematics and cryptography. These varied interests equipped him with a unique perspective when it came to observing and understanding the cosmos.

John Wilkins’ Plurality of Worlds

Central to Wilkins’ astronomical ideas was the belief in a “plurality of worlds.” This concept was embraced by several thinkers of the era. It postulated that planets and celestial bodies, including the moon, were worlds much like Earth.

By this logic, the moon wasn’t just a shining orb in the sky. It was a place with landscapes, atmospheres, and perhaps even inhabitants. This revolutionary idea was radical and contrary to the predominant geocentric worldview upheld by many in the church.

In 1640, Wilkins published “A Discourse Concerning a New World and Another Planet.” In it, he explored the feasibility of humans traveling to the moon and other planets. He argued that if the moon were a world similar to Earth, humans should be able to travel there. Given the technological constraints of the 17th century, this was a bold proposition. His methods, in hindsight, were understandably primitive.

John Wilkins and the Flying Chariot

Wilkins believed that a “flying chariot” could take humans to the moon. This vehicle would be propelled by wings attached to it, a bit like the way birds fly. He theorized that the chariot’s wings would require less flapping the further it got from Earth due to the thinning atmosphere.

Additionally, he speculated on the absence of gravity in space. He noted that as one ascended, the pull of Earth’s gravitational force would diminish, making it easier to move around. Though rudimentary, such thoughts were a precursor to our modern understanding of the vacuum of space and microgravity environments.

Of course, not everyone was taken in by Wilkins’ ideas. His contemporaries raised various objections. Some focused on the theological implications. If there were beings on other planets, how did they fit into the Biblical narrative? Others doubted the physical feasibility. How would one breathe? How could wings work in the vacuum of space?

Wilkins tackled these questions head-on. He hypothesized that space wasn’t entirely devoid of air. Instead, the atmosphere thinned out but never completely disappeared, providing just enough air for breathing.

Legacy and the Dawn of Space Exploration

Though Wilkins’ moon mission ideas were not actualized in his lifetime, his speculations played a pivotal role in sparking interest in interplanetary exploration. His works represented a significant shift from purely observational astronomy to a more practical, exploration-driven approach.

Space exploration took another three centuries to become a reality. However, the philosophical and theoretical foundation was set in Wilkins’ era.

His thoughts, radical as they were, underscore the human spirit’s relentless quest for knowledge and exploration.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “The 17​th​-Century Moon Mission That Never Got Off the Ground” — Atlas Obscura

WTF Fun Fact 12589 – Lockheed Martin’s Metric Problem

In a move that John Logsdon, director of George Washington University’s space policy institute, called “so dumb,” engineers at Lockheed Martin made a math error that cost millions.

Sloppy errors had plagued the U.S. space program for years by the time it all took place in 1999, but this mistake was one for the record books.

NASA’s rockets were being built by engineering powerhouse Lockheed Martin before being sent to NASA. Meanwhile, the Mars mission launched in early 1999 was run by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In the nine months between launch and mishap, no one had noticed that the math for the Orbiter’s orbiting program was off.

The LA Times explained:

“A navigation team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory used the metric system of millimeters and meters in its calculations, while Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, which designed and built the spacecraft, provided crucial acceleration data in the English system of inches, feet, and pounds.
As a result, JPL engineers mistook acceleration readings measured in English units of pound-seconds for a metric measure of force called newton-seconds.”

Instead of landing on Mars, the Orbiter entered the planet’s atmosphere incorrectly and burned up upon entry, costing roughly $125 million.

The Times went on to explain why people were pretty fed up at this point:

“The loss of the Mars probe was the latest in a series of major spaceflight failures this year that destroyed billions of dollars worth of research, military and communications satellites or left them spinning in useless orbits. Earlier this month, an independent national security review concluded that many of those failures stemmed from an overemphasis on cost-cutting, mismanagement, and poor quality control at Lockheed Martin, which manufactured several of the malfunctioning rockets.”

The basic discrepancy wasn’t all Lockheed Martin’s fault. Engineers at the two facilities had been exchanging data for months and no one ever noticed the numbers were off.

There was a shot at redemption that year as the Mars Polar Lander was scheduled to set down on December 3, 1999, on the frozen terrain of Mars’ south polar cap.

Unfortunately, it crashed into the planet’s surface along with $165 million of hopes and dreams. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Mars Probe Lost Due to Simple Math Error” — Los Angeles Times