Space Age Trivia
Kitty Joyner, Electrical Engineer, at NASA Langley Research Center in 1952.
Image courtesy of NASA.
Updates:
Risks of Space Racing (posted 4/9/2010)
Space Tourism (posted 10/15/2009)
Women in Space (posted 7/16/2009)
Space Demographics (posted 6/1/09)
Space Debris (posted 4/15/09)
Rapid Progress in Satellite Development (posted 3/13/09)
Space Firsts (posted 1/30/09)
Success rate in tests of the Soviet rocket used to launch Yuri Gagarin into space at the time of his first orbital flight:[1]
50%
Success rate in tests of the retro rockets needed for reentry of the space capsule at time of Gagarin’s launch:[2]
60%
Probability of success of Gagarin’s flight based on these two systems:
30%
Number of people launched to space who did not return successfully:[3]
18
Number of people who died while in orbit:
0
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[1] AWST 3-19/26-07, p. 67
[2] http://www3.northstar.k12.ak.us/schools/ryn/spacerace/people/gagarin.html
[3] Soyouz 1: 1 died on reentry (1967)
Soyouz 11: 3 died on reentry (1971)
Challenger: 7 died on launch (1985)
Columbia: 7 died on reentry (2003)
-From Aerospaceweb.org http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/q0114.shtml
Space Tourism:
(as of October 1, 2009)
Number of "space tourists" who have paid to travel to the International Space Station:[1]
6 (one of whom has flown twice)
Current cost of a trip to the space station as a tourist:[2]
$30-35 million
Additional fee for a space walk:[3]
$15 million
Expected cost of a trip around the moon as a tourist:[4]
$100 million
Date by which one company says it will routinely take tourists on weeklong orbital trips:[5]
2013
A previous profession of the next planned space tourist, Guy Laliberté:[6]
Fire-eater
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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tourism
[2] W. Harwood, "Tourist and Two Others on Way to Space Station," New York Times, 26 March 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/science/space/27soyuz.html?hp
[3] David Leonard, "Space Adventures Sees Wide Range of Public Space Travel," Space News, 23 July 2007, p. 12.
[4] Leonard, "Space Adventures Sees Wide Range."
[5] T. Malik, "Venture Eyes Russian Almaz Capsules for Paid Orbital Flights," 10 August 2009, http://www.spacenews.com/venture_space/venture-eyes-russian-almaz-capsules-for-paid-orbital-flights.html
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Lalibert%C3%A9
Women in space:
(as of May 1, 2009)
Time between first man in orbit and first woman in orbit:[1]
2 years
Time between first woman in orbit and second woman in orbit:[2]
19 years
Time between first woman in orbit and first US woman in orbit:[3]
21 years
Primary qualification of Valentina Tereskova, the first woman in space, to become a cosmonaut:[4]
She was a member of a parachute club
Number of additional female cosmonauts following its first two in 1963 and 1983:[5]
1
Total number of women who have been in orbit:[6]
49
Fraction of all trips to space by women by all countries:
10.6%
Country with the highest fraction of space flights by women:[7]
Canada (33%)
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[1] Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereskova was launched into space on June 16, 1963.
[2] Soviet Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya, Aug 19, 1982. Savitskaya was the first woman to spacewalk.
[3] U.S. astronaut Sally Ride, June 18, 1983
[4] The early Soviet space flights landed on the ground rather than water. Due to concern that the capsule might hit the ground too fast, the early cosmonauts parachuted out of the capsule at an altitude of about 7 km. Tereskova was a civilian (while the men were military officers) and was apparently chosen in large part because of her ability to parachute.
[5] Russian Cosmonaut Elena Kondakova, Oct. 3, 1994
[6] WorldSpaceFlight.com: http://www.worldspaceflight.com/bios/stats.php
[7] WorldSpaceFlight.com: http://www.worldspaceflight.com/bios/stats.php
Space Demographics:[1]
(as of May 1, 2009)
Number of person-years spent in space:
90.6 (0.91 person-century)
Number of different individuals launched to orbit:
500
Number of countries represented by those individuals:
36
Number of human-flights into orbit:[2]
1096
Fraction of those flights by women:
10.6%
Number of human-flights by U.S. astronauts:
773
Fraction by women:
13.6%
Number of human-flights by Soviet/Russian cosmonauts:
213
Fraction by women:
2.3%
Most human-flights by people of other nationalities:
France (17), Germany (14), Canada (13), Japan (12)
Length of first orbital flight (by Gagarin):
1 hour 48 minutes (1 orbit)
Longest single stay in orbit:
1.2 years [3]
Longest total duration in orbit for one person:
2.2 years [4]
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[1] Statistics are derived from WorldSpaceFlight.com: http://www.worldspaceflight.com/bios/stats.php
[2] "Human-flights" refers to number of passengers who have been carried into space on orbital launches; individuals who have been on multiple launches count as multiple human-flights.
[3] Valeri Polyakov: 437.8 days (Jan 1994-March 1995)
[4] Sergei Krikalov: 803.4 days over 6 flights (1988-2005)
Space Debris:
(All numbers are as of 4/15/09)
Amount of human-origin debris in space at the time of the Sputnik launch in 1957:
0
Amount today:
750,000 pieces larger than 1 cm and 150 million larger than 1 mm
Average time estimated between collisions of a piece of debris with size > 1 cm with some active satellite in low Earth orbit:
2-3 years
Number of international treaties limiting the production of space debris:
0[1]
Increase in large space debris in low Earth orbit that would result from the destruction of one large spy satellite by an anti-satellite weapon:
100%[2]
Number of countries that have destroyed a satellite by testing an anti-satellite weapon in space:
3[3]
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[1] Debris mitigation guidelines have been adopted by the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space (PAROS), but they are voluntary and not legally binding.
[2] Space debris from antisatellite weapons," David Wright, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 1 October 2007, http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/features/space-debris-antisatellite-weapons
[3] Soviet Union, United States, China
Rapid progress in satellite development:
Date of launch of the first satellite to be placed in orbit, Sputnik 1:
October 4, 1957[1]
Time between Sputnik 1 and first animal launched into orbit:
1 month[2]
Time between Sputnik 1 and first prototype communication satellite:
1.2 years[3]
Time between Sputnik 1 and first weather satellite:
1.4 years[4]
Time between Sputnik 1 and launch of first object to reach the moon:
1.9 years[5]
Time between Sputnik 1 and first animal to successfully return from orbit:
2.8 years[6]
Time between Sputnik 1 and first human launched into orbit (Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin):
3.5 years[7]
Time between first flight by Wright Brothers to first non-stop transatlantic airplane flight:
16 years[8]
Time between first person in orbit to first person on the moon:
8 years[9]
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[1] http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/
[2] The dog Laika was launched on Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957. http://www.astronautix.com/craft/sputnik2.htm, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2367681.stm
[3] The SCORE satellite (Signal Communications Orbit Relay Equipment) was launched Dec 18, 1958 by the United States to test communicating by satellite. It used an on-board tape recorder to relay messages. http://mtfs.narmc.amedd.army.mil/patterson/score.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_SCORE
[4] The first weather satellite was Vanguard 2, which was launched on February 17, 1959. It experienced some technical problems and did not work well, but was followed by Tiros 1, launched on April 1, 1960. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_satellite
[5] Sept. 12, 1959: The Soviet Luna-2 http://www.zarya.info/Diaries/Luna/Luna2.php
[6] Aug. 19 1960: Two dogs, Belka and Strelka, returned from orbit on a prototype of the Vostok spacecraft (Korabl Sputnik-5). http://www.russianspaceweb.com/chronology_XX.html
[7] The Soviet Union successfully launched cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit on April 12, 1961. http://www.astronautix.com/astros/gagarin.htm
[8] First Wright Brothers flight: Dec 17, 1903. First Non-Stop Transatlantic Flight: June14-15, 1919 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_flight
[9] Apollo moon landing: July 20, 1969. http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/imagery/Apollo/AS11/a11.htm
First country besides the U.S. and Soviet Union to have a satellite in orbit:
Canada[1]
First launch into orbit by a country other than the United States or Soviet Union:
France (1965)[2]
Continents from which orbital space launches occurred, in chronological order:
Asia (1957)[3], North America (1958)[4], Africa (1965)[5], Europe (1966)[6], Australia (1967)[7], South America (1970)[8]
First musical instruments played in space:
Harmonica and bells[9]
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[1] Canadian-built Alouette satellite was launched by the U.S. on September 29, 1962 aboard a Thor-Agena launch vehicle. http://ewh.ieee.org/reg/7/millennium/alouette/alouette_home.html
[2] France launched the Asterix satellite on November 29 1965 from a launch site in Algeria. http://www.cite-sciences.fr/english/ala_cite/exhibitions/cosmomania/evenements/asterix-1er-satellite-francais.php
[3] The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
[4] The United States launched Explorer 1 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
[5] France launched Asterix 1 from Hammaguir, Algeria.
[6] The Soviet Union launched the Cosmos-112 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in European Russia.
[7] Australia, using a U.S. Redstone rocket, launched the WRESAT satellite from Woomera, South Australia.
[8] France launched the German Dial (Diamant Allemagne) satellite from Kourou, French Guiana.
[9] In December 1965, Gemini 6A and Gemini 7 were both in orbit and undertook a series of rendezvous maneuvers. In the early hours of December 16, astronauts Thomas Stafford and Walter Schirra came on the radio: " Gemini 7, this is Gemini 6. We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit. Looks like he might be going to reenter soon. Stand by one…. You just might let me to pick up that thing…. I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit." This was followed by Jingle Bells being played on a harmonica and bells, which the Smithsonian Institution now keeps on display. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_6A
