SPACE ODDITIES

10 Bizarre Objects Humans Sent Into Space

Image: NASA

Space exploration has propelled humanity into the cosmos, but along the way, we've also flung a bunch of bizarre objects at high velocity into the cold void of space.

From cultural artifacts to scientific experiments gone wrong, here are 10 weird things we've launched beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Image: Alan Hardman

In 2001, Pizza Hut made history by becoming the first company to deliver pizza to space. They sent a vacuum-sealed pizza to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a resupply mission, allowing astronauts to enjoy a taste of home among the stars.

As NASA has a restrictive policy regarding advertising and product endorsement, Pizza Hut had to turn to Roscosmos, paying the Russian agency $1 million to display their logo on the side of their rocket and deliver a shrink-wrapped salami pizza to cosmonaut Yuri Usachov.

Image: Schokraie E, Warnken U, Hotz-Wagenblatt A, Grohme MA, Hengherr S, et al. (2012), CC BY 2.5

These microscopic creatures, also known as water bears, are incredibly resilient and can survive extreme conditions, including the unforgiving vacuum of space. Since 2007, tardigrades have been sent into space onboard various scientific missions, and in November 2011, an Israeli lunar lander accidentally crashed on the Moon’s surface, potentially spilling around thousands of tardigrades in a cryptobiotic state that were part of the mission’s payload.

Whether these tough little beings have survived the impact is anyone’s guess, but if there’s a terrestrial species capable of withstanding the harshest environments, it’s them.

Image: Brian McGowan

In 2008, Disney and NASA collaborated to send a toy replica of Buzz Lightyear, the fictional space ranger from the movie "Toy Story," to the ISS. The toy spent 15 months aboard the station as part of an educational outreach program before returning to Earth.

And after returning to Earth, Buzz Lightyear got to meet its legendary namesake, Buzz Aldrin, who "coached" it for future space missions. The spacefaring toy was eventually donated to the Smithsonian Institution, where it now resides.

Image: Daniel K Cheung

People seem to love sending LEGO figurines on the craziest adventures, whether it’s strapping them to weather balloons, miniature submarines, or even on a mission to Jupiter! A partnership between NASA and LEGO in 2011 resulted in the creation of a very special set specifically designed for space travel. Three figurines representing statues of Galileo Galilei and the Roman gods Jupiter and Juno were sent onboard NASA’s Juno Mission towards the gas giant.

Image: Vlad Tchompalov

In 2018, SpaceX made headlines when they launched Elon Musk's personal Tesla Roadster into space aboard the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket. The car was piloted by a mannequin dubbed "Starman," and it served as a dummy payload to test the rocket's capabilities without endangering a real (and potentially more costly) payload.

Named after a David Bowie song, the mannequin and its shiny convertible will remain in a heliocentric orbit for millions of years, an enduring testimony to humanity’s ingenuity and sense of humor.

Image: Jesper Aggergaard

Surprisingly, not even dinosaurs are safe from being sent into space! In 1985, fossil bits from Maiasaura peeblesorum, a duck-billed dinosaur, visited the Mir space station onboard the shuttle Endeavor. And in 2014, a Tyrannosaurus fossil was launched into space as part of NASA’s Orion spacecraft test flights. More recently, Jeff Bezos' spaceflight company Blue Origin sent hundreds of 70 million years old Dromaeosaurus fossil fragments on a suborbital trajectory, as part of its "Club for the Future'' initiative.

Image: Alexander Maasch

It seems like SpaceX might send just about anything to space, as in 2010 it launched a wheel of cheese as part of a secret payload onboard the company’s Dragon space capsule. The only reason it was kept secret is because SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk didn’t want to overshadow the success of the test flight.

The wheel of cheese is a - although debatable - reference to a classic skit from the British comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus where John Cleese tries to order cheese from a "cheeseless cheese shop." While the joke might not have landed as well as in Elon’s head, the wheel of cheese certainly did, safely returning to Earth along with the company’s space capsule.

Image: superneox lightsaber

Of course, a real lightsaber should be rigorously space-tested, or at least that’s what anyone who has seen Star Wars would expect. As part of an educational program, in 2007, NASA carried one of the actual Luke Skywalker lightsaber props used in the movies aboard the Discovery space shuttle. The "elegant weapon for a more civilized age" spent a total of 14 days in orbit before successfully returning to Earth - and to George Lucas’s hands.

Image: Vinicius amnx Amano

Who'd have thought there was room for whisky research in space? In 2011, a Scotch distillery named Ardbeg sent samples of its whisky to learn how microgravity would affect the maturation process of their spirit, with the goal of improving whisky production back on Earth. Interestingly, after spending nearly three years in space, Ardbeg’s director of distilling claimed that the samples tasted noticeably different from their terrestrial counterparts, likely due to how microgravity affects the process of oak flavoring that is essential for making scotch.

Image: Mick Haupt

Yes, you read that right. According to some sources, the first object sent into space - even before Sputnik - was in all likelihood a manhole cover that was accidentally launched at turbocharged speed during Operation Plumbbob, one of the earliest nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. government in the 1950s.

Robert Brownlee, one of the scientists who worked on Operation Plumbbob, maintains that the accidental spacecraft was propelled at five times the escape velocity of the Earth (around 125,000 miles per hour) during the nuclear blast, seriously dwarfing the speed of any intentional spacecraft made by humanity so far. In fact, it was going so fast that it wouldn't have time to burn up in the atmosphere, and some argue that it carried enough momentum to actually leave the Solar system entirely.

We just know that we know nothing

12 facts that people often get wrong

No one can claim to know everything, but most people go through life confident about certain things. However, some of these widely held beliefs are not actually correct, despite their popularity. Let’s have a look at some "facts" you might have gotten wrong!

The idea that insects—particularly mosquitoes—are not animals is widespread, but it’s also incorrect. In fact, insects are the most diverse group within the Animal kingdom, with more than a million species described and representing more than half of the animal population of the planet.

The mistake comes from not considering that "fruit" is not only a culinary term but also a botanical one. Botanically, a fruit is the part of a plant that develops from a flower and contains seeds. This makes tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, and many other foods that we call vegetables actually fruits in the scientific sense.

Countries have a political delimitation, while continents are divided according to geographical criteria. The Russian Federation is the largest country on Earth, bordering fourteen other countries and extending across eleven time zones. It spans across a good part of Eastern Europe, but also across the Ural mountains—one of the recognized borders between Europe and Asia—and stretches deep into northern Asia.

While cold weather isn’t harmless, it is not the direct cause of illnesses like the flu, which are caused by viruses. In colder months, people tend to spend more time indoors and often avoid ventilating rooms, creating conditions that make it easier for viruses to spread and cause illness.

Bats might not prefer to be out during bright daylight, but this does not mean that they are blind. In fact, many species have excellent eyesight, though it is adapted to low-light or nighttime conditions. On top of that, bats also use echolocation, which allows them to navigate and hunt with remarkable precision in complete darkness.

The belief that you must wait a full day before reporting someone missing is a myth popularized by movies and TV shows. In reality, the law does not require a waiting period. In fact, law enforcement agencies stress that the first 24 hours are often the most critical, so a missing person should be reported immediately.

Some man-made structures are visible from space without magnification, but despite popular belief, the Great Wall of China is not one of them. While it is quite long, being over 13,000 miles long, it is relatively narrow, and its earthy colors blend in with the surrounding landscape, making it nearly impossible to spot with the naked eye from orbit.

This one is tricky: Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth (29,032 feet)… if you measure the distance from sea level to peak. For the actual tallest mountain, the answer might vary depending on how you measure. Measured from base to summit, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is the tallest at 33,474 feet—though much of it is underwater. Mount McKinley (Denali) in Alaska rises about 18,000 feet from its base to the peak, making it the tallest mountain entirely above sea level. And Ecuador’s Mount Chimborazo, while shorter in height, is the farthest point on Earth from the planet’s center due to the equatorial bulge.

The Earth is tilted on an axis, which causes the amount of sunlight each hemisphere receives to change as it orbits the Sun. Because of this tilt, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun and experiences summer, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away and experiences winter—and vice versa. This is why the Southern Hemisphere celebrates Christmas during summer.

Standard medical advice is to gently guide a sleepwalker back to bed rather than waking them, but not because waking them is inherently dangerous. People tend to sleepwalk during deep sleep, so waking them up might startle them or cause confusion and disorientation.

Hair color and thickness are determined by genetics, not by shaving. Hair naturally gets thin at the ends, so when you shave it, the hair shaft appears to be thicker and darker because of the blunt cut. But it's just an optical illusion; the natural size of the shaft remains unchanged.

Coffee is a natural diuretic, meaning it can increase trips to the bathroom. However, the water in brewed coffee still contributes to your hydration and offsets its mild diuretic effect. If you consume coffee in moderation—3 to 5 cups a day, depending on your tolerance—you should be alright. However, drinking extra water on the side is never a bad idea.