Why do astronauts train underwater?
Before some astronauts work outside a spacecraft, they spend hours in a giant pool beside full-size space equipment.
Take a guessCuriosity category
Big questions from our sky, solar system, and the universe beyond.
Before some astronauts work outside a spacecraft, they spend hours in a giant pool beside full-size space equipment.
Take a guessAstronaut boots pressed into Moon dust more than fifty years ago. Those marks may still be sitting there an almost ridiculous amount of time later.
Take a guessMost people draw the Sun yellow. In astronaut views from space, it looks much closer to white.
Take a guessAstronauts can actually get taller while they're in space. Not forever, but enough to measure. How does leaving Earth change their height?
Take a guessMercury is closer to the Sun. Venus still wins the hottest-planet contest. The scoreboard feels rigged.
Take a guessThe Moon rises huge behind trees or buildings. Later, high overhead, it looks ordinary again.
Take a guessSpace stories are full of booms and rumbles. Real space can be violent too, but a nearby listener would have a problem.
Take a guessSomething can shove stars around, heat nearby gas until it blazes, and still refuse to show itself.
Take a guessLook up at Mars through a telescope, and it has that red-orange glow. What gave a whole planet such a famous color?
Take a guessSaturn has a bright ring system wrapped around it, while Earth very much does not. How did one planet end up with that strange halo?
Take a guessIn orbit, a pencil, a sandwich, and an astronaut can all drift across the room like the floor forgot its job.
Take a guessA star can shine steadily for years, then seem to flicker the moment you look up.
Take a guessSunlight looks white. Air looks clear. So where is all that blue coming from?
Take a guessRide in a car at night and trees rush past the window. The Moon just keeps hanging there, as if it came along for the trip. Why?
Take a guess