Fact of the Day: Earth's Twin

The planet Venus is often referred to as "Earth's Twin" or Earth's sister planet due to their similar size and shape. Though the Earth is a bit larger than Venus. 

Fact of the Day: Astronaut Senator

While John Glenn is most famous for his career at NASA, he was also a United States Senator from 1974-1999 representing Ohio. He also made attempts to become the Democratic nominee for both Vice President, and later President losing both times to Walter Mondale. 

Fact of the Day: Planetary Rings

While Saturn is most well known for its vibrant and beautiful rings, they're are also rings on other planets in the solar system. Though they are smaller and less visible; Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune all have their own. 

Fact of the Day: Solar Moonlight

While moonlight is light coming from the moon, its real source isn't lunar at all. Moonlight is actually mostly reflected sunlight and a little starlight.

Fact of the Day: Moon Weight

Gravity on the Moon is about 17% of what it is on Earth. A person that weighs about 150lbs wouldn't even weigh 25lbs on the moon. 

Fact of the Day: Many Moons

While the Earth has only one single moon, Jupiter has many more. Many know of the four large moons named Europa, Ganymede, Io, and Callisto which were first discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. Since then we've noticed 67 moons orbiting Jupiter, though the other 63 moons are very small in comparison to the Galilean moons. 

Fact of the Day: Jingle Bells in Space

The first song played in space was Jingle Bells on the Gemini 6A. They were played with a harmonica and small bells. The musical instruments are now preserved by the Smithsonian Institute. 

Fact of the Day: Hydrogen's Sun

The most common element by far in the Sun is hydrogen. Which makes sense given its notable combustion.

Fact of the Day: Jupiter is Big

Jupiter is so large you could fit 1,320 Earths inside it. 

Fact of the Day: Space Oxygen

A common fact about space that most people know is that there's no air in outer-space period  But given the fact that fire needs oxygen, it seems to create a contradiction when it comes to space-shuttles. However since there's no air in space, astronauts simply bring oxygen with them. Space shuttles will carry tons of liquid oxygen to make sure their rockets have plenty of power.  

A Look Into History: Ranger 4

Ranger 4 was a spacecraft designed by NASA and finished in 1962. It's main missions were to transmit photos of the lunar surface of the moon, plant a seismometer on the ground, collect gamma-ray data in flight, and help advance future lunar spacecraft. However while traveling towards the moon, computer problems caused it to malfunction and it eventually crashed on the far side of the moon. Ranger 4 returned no scientific data back to Earth. 

Fact of the Day: Long Lasting Footprints

As long as no further space explorers step in the same spot, the footprints our astronauts left will remain on the moon for at least 10 million years. The moon has no wind, weather, or erosion so there's nothing out there to mess with them.

Fact of the Day: The Great Wall Is Hard To See From Up Here

 Many people believe The Great Wall of China is the only man-made object you can see from space. This is not true and not to mention the great wall is almost invisible from orbit. There is one man-made object that's very easy to see which are city lights. They're hard to miss on the night-side of Earth.

Fact of the Day: Know Your Space Lingo

In English terms and nicknames, space travelers are given a different name based on their country of origin. Americans are astronauts, Soviet/Russians are cosmonauts, Chinese are taikonauts, and the French are spationauts.

Gabrielle Giffords To Watch Space Shuttle Launch

Gabby Giffords who was shot by Jared Lee Loughner in Arizona in January has made enough of a recovery to see her husband blast off into space for he is an astronaut. Good to see the news that she is doing well. I wonder how she looks after all this time.