Trivia Break: Space Firsts
>> Thursday, August 20, 2009
Bad day=trivia break. It's just a little easier for me than trying to do justice to the excellent questions I get. In the interest of space, since I know a few space enthusiasts read this, here are some "manned" or "pre-manned" space firsts.
So, using my new method, I ask you first and tomorrow, I expand on the answers I might get today.
Ready? (My preference on these is to get animal/astronaut(s), flight, year on these answers but I'll settle for anything ya got.)
What was the first animal in space?
What happened to the first animal to orbit the earth?
Who was the first man in space?
Who was the first man to orbit the earth?
Who was the first woman in space?
Who performed the first EVA in space?
Who were the first people to orbit the moon?
Who was in the command module when Armstrong and Aldrin first walked on the moon?
Who was/were the first people killed in space?
That ought to keep you busy.
Not my bag, but I'll try.
The first man to orbit the earth was Yuri Gagarin. The first American to orbit the earth was John Glenn--my father had some role to play in the reentry.
The first animals in space were those ubiquitous science victims, the fruitflies. They were sent up to examine the effects of solar radiation on the genes, and were perfect for the role, since the fruitflies have been pretty well mapped for a long time.
Women? Most people say Sally Ride, but I could swear there was a Russian who beat us to that, too.
I have no idea what an EVA is.
i'll pass on this, and defer to others. i also find myself wanting desire to write but looking for anything else to do.
strange...
EVA=extravehicular activity (spacewalk)
The mother, fruit flies, seriously? That I hadn't heard. Who sent them up and on which flight?
Never mind, I found it. That's one on me.
EVA--can't just say spacewalk, huh? And people say doctors use too many abbreviations.
The Mother, EVA's a hard one for me to remember to define. I worked EVA for six years and NO ONE at NASA ever calls it a spacewalk unless they're a PA announcer. It's always EVA. But I should have remembered it.
I don't think anyone has as many acronyms as we have. When I worked the Hubble Spaceflight Mission, their list of acronyms FOR THE MISSION ALONE (not counting Shuttle and EVA acronyms we normally use) was 54 pages long, with two columns single spaced.
I can no longer learn acronyms, by the way. I've reached acronym saturation and, if I'm forced to learn a new one, I lose one I already knew with no control which one it was. I wish I could remember what NASA stood for. I have to look it up every time (for example).
I'm pretty sure it's National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Just FYI.
When I was in my first year of medical school, we were pumping so much stuff in our heads that I forgot my own phone number.
So I know the feeling.