Gail's Glimmerings: SPACE DAY is COMING!

Space Day is held the first Friday in May. It is a day to recognizes space and spark young peoples’ interest in

science. Space Day was first held in 1997. In 2001, astronaut John Glenn promoted the day as International Space Day.

1. Write THREE facts you know about space.________________________________________________ 2. What are three character traits you would give an astronaut and why? ____________________________________________________ 3. What would be your biggest fear as an astronaut? ____________________________________________________ 4. If you could bring ONE personal item with you on a space mission what would it be and why? ______________________________________
5. Do you think there may be life on other planets? Would you like to MEET an alien? Why,Why not? ____________________________________________________

6. Write TWO questions you’d ask an astronaut. _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ 7. Illustrate a Did You Know? Fun Fact

Did You Know?

1. Dennis Tito, became the first space tourist in 2001.He paid $20 million to spend 8 days at the International Space Station.
2. Snoopy, the Peanut character, is the safety mascot of NASA astronauts.

3.Wan-Hu, a Chinese man that lived around 1500 AD,
may have been the first in space. 47 Rockets were attached to a chair with two large kites. He was never seen again!
4. The word astronaut is Latin for “star sailor.
5. The first person to walk in space was Russian, Alexei Leonov(1965).
6. The first American to walk in space was Ed White(1965).
7. President Nixon called Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin while they were taking photographs of the flag on the moon. Nixon said of the telephone call that it “was the most historic phone call ever made from the White House”. 1969
8.Scientists hope that there will be a manned mission to MARS by 2025.
9. Venus is the hottest planet. Although Mars is closest to the sun, its atmosphere can’t regulate temperatures. Venus is about 450 degrees C. on its surface.
10. Pluto was demoted from being a planet(2006). It is called a dwarf planet. Ceres, Haumea, Makemake and Eris are the four other recognized dwarf planets.

• 11. The first man-made object in space was launched by the Russians in 1957. It was called Sputnik. It was the beginning of the “Space Race” between the USA and Russia.

12. Famous Halley’s Comet returns to our solar system every 76 years. It will be visible in 2061.

13. A Latin word, “alien” means “stranger” or “foreign”.
14.The planet Saturn has officially 53 moons. Another 9 haven’t been confirmed as moons.
15. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system.
16. About 4.24 light years away, the sun is the closest star to the Earth.
17. Stars don’t really “twinkle”. The light of stars is distorted by the Earth’s atmosphere making the appearance of twinkling.
18. A group of solar systems is called a galaxy. We live in the Milky Way Galaxy.
19. It is estimated that there are 500,000 pieces of junk floating around in space!
20. The first person to believe that the Earth revolved around the Sun was Nicolaus Copernicus. People at the time believed the EARTH was the center of the universe and the sun revolved around the Earth.

An out-of-this world hotel is about to be constructed. The first “space hotel”, which will be located about 250 miles above the Earth is being constructed and hopes to open in 2027. In addition to 24 guest pods, that will have spectacular views of space, the hotel complex, shaped like a giant wheel, will have a restaurant, a gym, spa and even a movie theater. You don’t need to worry about floating around the facility as artificial gravity will be created. At this time, the cost for a stay at this unique hotel has yet to be determined.

Your Turn:

1. Would you stay at such a hotel? Why or why not?
2. Write a diary pretending to be a guest at the Voyager Class Space Station Hotel? What do you see? How do you feel? Etc.

Click on this link to learn more and see an illustration:https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/ voyager-station-space-hotel-scn/index.html