Strange but True Facts - Space

Strange but True Facts - Space

The ancient Greeks called our galaxy the Milky Way because they thought it was made from drops of milk from the breasts of the Greek goddess Hera. Yuri Gagarin survived the first manned spaceflight but was killed in a plane crash seven years later. Astronauts become a little taller in space. There is less gravity, so their bones are less squashed together. Astronauts' footprints and Lunar Rover tyre tracks will stay on the moon for millions of years as there is no wind to blow them away. About 1500 stars are visible at night with the naked eye in a clear, dark sky. There are 88 constellations altogether. The smallest star measures about 1700 km across. It is a white dwarf called LP 327-16. The first object to orbit earth was Sputnik 1, launched by the USSR in October 1957. The first animal in space was the Soviet dog, Laika, in November 1957. It died on the flight. The first animals to survive in orbital spaceflight were the Soviet dogs, Strelka and Belka, launched in Sputnik 5 in August 1960. The first person to orbit earth was Yuri Gagarin, from the USSR, in April 1961. The first American to orbit earth was John Glenn in February 1962. The first woman in space was Valentina Tereshkova, from the USSR, in June 1963. The first person to walk on the moon was Neil Armstrong in July 1969.

Strange but True - People

Strange but True - People The world's largest palace has 1788 rooms. It was built for the Sultan of Brunei. The world's largest recorded gathering of people was at a Hindu religious festival in India in 1989. It was attended by about 15 million people. Abraham Lincoln went to school for less than a year. He taught himself to read and write. The longest recorded swim was 2938 km down the Mississippi River in 1930. The swimmer spend 742 hours in the water. Humans are no match for some animals. The rhinoceros beetle can carry 850 times its own weight on its back. The Emperor moth can detect smells 11 km away. The cheetah can run at 70 km/h. The Polyphemus moth eats 86,000 its own birth weight in 48 hours. The cries of South American howler monkeys can be heard 16 km away. The longest jail sentence passed was in the United States - 10,000 years for a triple murder. It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. Try it! Levi Strauss made the first pair of blue jeans in 1850. They were intended as work trousers for American miners looking for gold. In Ancient Rome only important people wore purple clothes. This is because the purple dye came from a particular kind of shellfish and was very expensive.

Weird funny place names

Weird funny place names

Would you like to live here? These are names of actual locations:

Arsoli (Lazio, Italy)
Bastard (Norway)
Beaver (Oklahoma, USA)
Beaver Head (Idaho, USA)
Brown Willy (Cornwall,UK)
Chinaman's Knob (Australia)
Climax (Colorado, USA)
Cunt (Spain)
Cunter (Switzerland)
Dikshit (India)
Dildo (Newfoundland, Canada)
Dong Rack (Thailand-Cambodia border)
Dongo (Congo - Democratic Republic)
Effin (Limerick, Ireland)
Fuku (Shensi, China)
Fukue (Honshu, Japan)
Fukui (Honshu, Japan)
Fukum (Yemen)
Hold With Hope (Greenland)
Intercourse (Pennsylvania, USA)
Lickey End (West Midlands, UK)
Little Dix Village (West Indies)
Lord Berkeley's Knob (Sutherland, Scotland)
Middle Intercourse Island (Australia)
Muff (Northern Ireland)
Nobber (Donegal, Ireland)
Pis Pis River (Nicaragua)
Sexmoan (Luzon, Philippines)
Seymen (Turkey)
Shafter (California, USA)
Shag Island (Indian Ocean)
Shitlingthorpe (Yorkshire, UK)
Tittybong (Australia)
Tong Fuk (Japan)
Turdo (Romania)
Twatt (Orkney, UK)
Wank (Germany)
Wankendorf (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany)
Wankener (India)
Wankie (Zimbabwe)
Wankie Colliery (Zimbabwe)
Wanks River (Nicaragua)
Wankum (Germany)
Wet Beaver Creek (Australia)