# The Trivia Thread from Space...and Beyond! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 20, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801 "2003-01-20T14:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/1 "2003-01-20T14:49:43Z")
The first living creature in space was a dog and not a monkey. Laika was launched aboard Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957 by the Soviet Union. There was no way to return Laika to earth so she died in space about a week after the launch. ☹ The name “Laika” means “barker” in Russian. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/2 "2003-01-20T15:03:30Z")
In space no one can hear you bark. ---
**Author:** ![bayonet1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bayonet1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bayonet1976)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/3 "2003-01-20T15:05:50Z")
Laika was also the name of a really crappy soviet toothpaste that was unloaded on Cuba back in the 70’s. It was like brushing your teeth with sandy concrete. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/4 "2003-01-20T15:26:39Z")
Ivan: (sigh) Misha, how do you have such beautiful white teeth? Misha: Have you tried this new toothpaste? Ivan: No! No, I have not. Misha: It is my secret! The sand brushes away the grime and other pesky things, such as enamel! ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/5 "2003-01-20T15:40:39Z")
Trivia: We can actually look 2,900,000 years back in time! The Andromeda Galaxy (Messier Object 31; M31) is actiually 2,900,000 light years away, and easily visible with the naked eye. The light we are now seeing was actually emitted two million nine hundred thousand years ago! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/6 "2003-01-20T16:04:00Z")
I remember reading about Laika, and all the books and articles talking about how great it was that a dog got up into space. My thought, as an impressionable kid was “Did she ever get back down?” Nobody ever talked about that, so I suspected the answer was “no”. That’s the case. Laika died after a week in orbit: [http://ham.spa.umn.edu/kris/laika.html](http://ham.spa.umn.edu/kris/laika.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/7 "2003-01-20T16:14:07Z")
yeah! that’s the site I was looking at. How cool is that? She has her own stamps. Why doesn’t the US have some honoring Gordo or Ham? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/8 "2003-01-20T20:01:59Z")
The only Gordo we put in space was L. Gordon Cooper Jr., one of the seven original Mercury astronauts, and a human. [sub]I do not have a cite for this.[/sub] The chimpanzees that NASA sent up were Ham and Enos. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/9 "2003-01-20T20:05:57Z")
nay! [I know my monkey trivia](http://ham.spa.umn.edu/kris/gordo.html) and here is [a list of animalnauts](http://ham.spa.umn.edu/kris/animals.html) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/10 "2003-01-20T21:01:34Z")
My mistake. My sources only covered the NASA flights. I hereby award you one act of contrition to be specified at a later date. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/11 "2003-01-20T21:26:22Z")
Actually, as related in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=157124) thread (Lost Cosmonauts), Laika may have died just a few hours after launch. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/12 "2003-01-21T04:24:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Robot Arm \* > \*\*My mistake. My sources only covered the NASA flights. > > I hereby award you one act of contrition to be specified at a later date. \*\* ok then, but I have my eye on you… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/13 "2003-01-22T06:15:56Z")
To continue the triviality of this thread… On average, were you to place the Moon randomly someplace on the sky, it would have odds of only 1 in 30 of covering a star. Oh, and before anyone asks:[Cite](http://www.badastronomy.com/bitesize/moonstar.html). If citing myself is legal… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2003, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trivia-thread-from-space-and-beyond/149801/14 "2003-01-22T08:00:03Z")
Well, since I need to redeem myself a little in this thread, what do Skylab and Fort Pierce, Florida have in common? ( **BNB** , this piece of trivia is monkey-free.)