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10 Space & Football Facts You Probably Didn’t Know
There are more connections between space and football than you may have originally thought. Here are a few examples of how...
1. The International Space Station and a football field are basically the same size
Yes, that’s right! The International Space Station measures 357 feet end-to-end. That’s almost equivalent to the length of a football field including the end zones (360 feet).
2. It would take over 4,000 footballs to fill the Orion spacecraft
Our Orion spacecraft is being designed to carry astronauts to deep space destinations, like Mars! It will launch atop the most powerful rocket ever built, the Space Launch System rocket. If you were to fill the Orion spacecraft with footballs instead of crew members, you would fit a total of 4,625!
3. Our new Space Launch System rocket is taller than a football field is long
We’re building the most powerful rocket ever, the Space Launch System. At its full height it will stand 384 feet – 24 feet taller than a football field is long.
4. The crew living on space station will see the day begin and end…twice…during the Super Bowl
An average NFL game lasts more than three hours. Traveling at 17,500 mph, the crew on the space station will see two sunrises and two sunsets in that time…they see 16 sunrises and sunsets each day!
5. Playing football on Mars would be…lighter
On Mars, a football would weigh less than half a pound, while a 200-pund football player would weigh just about 75 pounds.
6. It would take over 3,000 hours for a football to reach the Moon
Talk about going long…if you threw a football to the Moon at 60 mph, the average speed of an NFL pass, it would take 3,982 hours, or 166 days, to get there. The quickest trip to the Moon was the New Horizons probe, which zipped pass the Moon in just 8 hours 35 minutes on its way to Pluto
7. The longest field goal kick in history would’ve been WAY easier to make on Mars
The longest field goal kick in NFL history is 64 yards. On Mars, at 1/3 the gravity of Earth, that same field goal, ignoring air resistance, could have been made from almost two football fields away (192 yards).
8. A quarterback would be able to throw even further on Mars
Aerodynamic drag doesn’t happen on Mars. With a very thin atmosphere and low gravity to drag the ball down, a quarterback could throw the football three times as far as he could on Earth. A receiver would have to be much further down the field to catch the throw
9. Football players and astronauts both need to exercise every day
Football players must be quick and powerful, honing the physical skills necessary for their unique positions. In space, maintaining physical fitness is a top priority, since astronauts will lose bone and muscle mass if they do not keep up their strength and conditioning.
10. Clear team communication is important on the football field AND in space
During football games, calling plays and relaying information from coaches on the sidelines or in the booth to players on the field is essential. Coaches communicate directly with quarterbacks and a defensive player between plays via radio frequencies. They must have a secure and reliable system that keeps their competitors from listening in and also keeps loud fan excitement from drowning out what can be heard. Likewise, reliable communication with astronauts in space and robotic spacecraft exploring far into the solar system is key to our mission success.
A radio and satellite communications network allows space station crew members to talk to the ground-based team at control centers, and for those centers to send commands to the orbital complex.
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13 Reasons to Have an Out of This World Friday (the 13th)
1. Know that not all of humanity is bound to the ground
Since 2000, the International Space Station has been continuously occupied by humans. There, crew members live and work while conducting important research that benefits life on Earth and will even help us eventually travel to deep space destinations, like Mars.
2. Smart people are up all night working in control rooms all over NASA to ensure that data keeps flowing from our satellites and spacecraft
Our satellites and spacecraft help scientists study Earth and space. Missions looking toward Earth provide information about clouds, oceans, land and ice. They also measure gases in the atmosphere, such as ozone and carbon dioxide, and the amount of energy that Earth absorbs and emits. And satellites monitor wildfires, volcanoes and their smoke.
Satellites and spacecraft that face toward space have a variety of jobs. Some watch for dangerous rays coming from the sun. Others explore asteroids and comets, the history of stars, and the origin of planets. Some fly near or orbit other planets. These spacecraft may look for evidence of water on Mars or capture close-up pictures of Saturn’s rings.
3. The spacecraft, rockets and systems developed to send astronauts to low-Earth orbit as part of our Commercial Crew Program is also helping us get to Mars
Changes to the human body during long-duration spaceflight are significant challenges to solve ahead of a mission to Mars and back. The space station allows us to perform long duration missions without leaving Earth’s orbit.
Although they are orbiting Earth, space station astronauts spend months at a time in near-zero gravity, which allows scientists to study several physiological changes and test potential solutions. The more time they spend in space, the more helpful the station crew members can be to those on Earth assembling the plans to go to Mars.
4. Two new science missions will travel where no spacecraft has gone before…a Jupiter Trojan asteroid and a giant metal asteroid!
We’ve selected two missions that have the potential to open new windows on one of the earliest eras in the history of our solar system – a time less than 10 million years after the birth of our sun!
The first mission, Lucy, will visit six of Jupiter’s mysterious Trojan asteroids. The Trojans are thought to be relics of a much earlier era in the history of the solar system, and may have formed far beyond Jupiter’s current orbit.
The second mission, Psyche, will study a unique metal asteroid that’s never been visited before. This giant metal asteroid, known as 16 Psyche, is about three times farther away from the sun than is the Earth. Scientists wonder whether Psyche could be an exposed core of an early planet that could have been as large as Mars, but which lost its rocky outer layers due to a number of violent collisions billions of years ago.
5. Even astronauts eat their VEGGIES’s
NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough collected the third and final harvest of the latest round of the Veggie investigation, testing the capability to grow fresh vegetables on the International Space Station.
Understanding how plants respond to microgravity is an important step for future long-duration space missions, which will require crew members to grow their own food. Crew members have previously grown lettuce and flowers in the Veggie facility. This new series of the study expands on previous validation tests.
6. When you feel far away from home, you can think of the New Horizons spacecraft as it heads toward the Kuiper Belt, and the twin Voyager spacecraft are beyond the influence of our sun…billions of miles away
Our New Horizons spacecraft completed its Pluto flyby in July 2015 and has continued on its way toward the Kuiper Belt. The spacecraft continues to send back important data as it travels toward deeper space at more than 32,000 miles per hour, and is nearly 3.2 billion miles from Earth.
In addition to New Horizons, our twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft are exploring where nothing from Earth has flown before. Continuing on their more-than-37-year journey since their 1977 launches, they are each much farther away from Earth and the sun than Pluto. In August 2012, Voyager 1 made the historic entry into interstellar space, the region between the stars, filled with material ejected by the death of nearby stars millions of years ago.
7. Earth has a magnetic field that largely protects it from the solar wind stripping away out atmosphere…unlike Mars
Findings from our MAVEN mission have identified the process that appears to have played a key role in the transition of the Martian climate from an early, warm and wet environment to the cold, arid planet Mars is today. MAVEN data have enabled researchers to determine the rate at which the Martian atmosphere currently is losing gas to space via stripping by the solar wind. Luckily, Earth has a magnetic field that largely protects it from this process.
8. There are humans brave enough to not only travel in space, but venture outside the space station to perform important repairs and updates during spacewalks
Spacewalks are important events where crew members repair, maintain and upgrade parts of the International Space Station. These activities can also be referred to as EVAs – Extravehicular Activities. Not only do spacewalks require an enormous amount of work to prepare for, but they are physically demanding on the astronauts. They are working in the vacuum of space in only their spacewalking suit.
When on a spacewalk, astronauts use safety tethers to stay close to their spacecraft. One end of the tether is hooked to the spacewalker, while the other end is connected to the vehicle. Spacewalks typically last around 6.5 hours, but can be extended to 7 or 8 hours, if necessary.
9. We’re working to create new aircraft that will dramatically reduce fuel use, emissions and noise…meaning we could change the way you fly!
The nation’s airlines could realize more than $250 billion dollars in savings in the near future thanks to green-related technologies that we are developing and refining. These new technologies could cut airline fuel use in half, pollution by 75% and noise to nearly one-eighth of today’s levels!
10. You can see a global image of your home planet…EVERY DAY
Once a day, we will post at least a dozen new color images of Earth acquired from 12 to 36 hours earlier. These images are taken by our EPIC camera from one million miles away on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR). Take a look HERE.
11. Employees of NASA have always been a mission driven bunch, who try to find answers that were previously unknown
The film “Hidden Figures,” focuses on the stories of Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan, African-American women who were essential to the success of early spaceflight.
Today, we embrace their legacy and strive to include everyone who wants to participate in our ongoing exploration. In the 1960’s, we were on an ambitious journey to the moon, and the human computers portrayed in Hidden Figures helped get us there. Today, we are on an even more ambitious journey to Mars. We are building a vibrant, innovative workforce that reflects a vast diversity of discipline and thought, embracing and nurturing all the talent we have available, regardless of gender, race or other protected status. Take a look at our Modern Figures HERE.
12. A lot of NASA-developed tech has been transferred for use to the public
Our Technology Transfer Program highlights technologies that were originally designed for our mission needs, but have since been introduced to the public market. HERE are a few spinoff technologies that you might not know about.
13. If all else fails, here’s an image of what we (Earth) and the moon look like from Mars
From the most powerful telescope orbiting Mars comes a new view of Earth and its moon, showing continent-size detail on the planet and the relative size of the moon. The image combines two separate exposures taken on Nov. 20 by our High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on our Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
In the image, the reddish feature near the middle of the face of Earth is Australia.
Kirk vs. Spock: NASA Trivia Time!
Star Trek has inspired generations of NASA employees to boldly go exploring strange new worlds and develop the technologies for making science fiction become science reality. We recently caught up with Star Trek Beyond actors Chris Pine (Kirk) and Zachary Quinto (Spock) and quizzed them on some NASA trivia. Before you take a look at their answers (video at bottom of post), take a stab at answering them yourself! See how well you do:
1. What does the first “A” in NASA stand for? A) Adventure B) Aeronautics
2. On July 4 this year, we sent a spacecraft into orbit around what planet? A) Jupiter B) Pluto
3. What do scientists call a planet that orbits a star outside our solar system? A) Exoplanet B) Nebula
4. Although it never flew in space, what was the name of the first space shuttle? A) Discovery B) Enterprise
5. What is a light-year a measurement of? A) Time B) Distance
6. When looking for habitable worlds around other stars, we want to find planets that are what? A) Goldilocks zone planets B) Class M Planets
7. Olympus Mons is the largest known volcano in our solar system. What planet is it on? A) Mars B) Earth
8. Which NASA satellite made an appearance in Star Trek the Motion Picture? A) Voyager B) Galileo
9. Who was the first American woman in space? A) Sally Ride B) Janice Lester
10. While developing life support for Mars missions, what NASA Spinoff was developed? A) Enriched baby food B) Anti-gravity boots
11. What technology makes replication of spare parts a reality on the International Space Station? A) Closed-Loop System B) 3-D Printer
12. What two companies are contracted by NASA to carry astronauts to and from the space station? A) Boeing and SpaceX B) Amazon and Virgin Galactic
ANSWERS: 1:B, 2:A, 3:A, 4:B, 5:B, 6:A, 7:A, 8:A, 9:A, 10:A, 11:B, 12:A
Now that you’ve tested your own space knowledge, find out how Zachary and Chris did at NASA Trivia:
Learn more about NASA + Star Trek at: http://www.nasa.gov/startrek
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