SPACE ODDITIES

10 Bizarre Objects Humans Sent Into Space

Image: NASA

Space exploration has propelled humanity into the cosmos, but along the way, we've also flung a bunch of bizarre objects at high velocity into the cold void of space.

From cultural artifacts to scientific experiments gone wrong, here are 10 weird things we've launched beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Image: Alan Hardman

In 2001, Pizza Hut made history by becoming the first company to deliver pizza to space. They sent a vacuum-sealed pizza to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a resupply mission, allowing astronauts to enjoy a taste of home among the stars.

As NASA has a restrictive policy regarding advertising and product endorsement, Pizza Hut had to turn to Roscosmos, paying the Russian agency $1 million to display their logo on the side of their rocket and deliver a shrink-wrapped salami pizza to cosmonaut Yuri Usachov.

Image: Schokraie E, Warnken U, Hotz-Wagenblatt A, Grohme MA, Hengherr S, et al. (2012), CC BY 2.5

These microscopic creatures, also known as water bears, are incredibly resilient and can survive extreme conditions, including the unforgiving vacuum of space. Since 2007, tardigrades have been sent into space onboard various scientific missions, and in November 2011, an Israeli lunar lander accidentally crashed on the Moon’s surface, potentially spilling around thousands of tardigrades in a cryptobiotic state that were part of the mission’s payload.

Whether these tough little beings have survived the impact is anyone’s guess, but if there’s a terrestrial species capable of withstanding the harshest environments, it’s them.

Image: Brian McGowan

In 2008, Disney and NASA collaborated to send a toy replica of Buzz Lightyear, the fictional space ranger from the movie "Toy Story," to the ISS. The toy spent 15 months aboard the station as part of an educational outreach program before returning to Earth.

And after returning to Earth, Buzz Lightyear got to meet its legendary namesake, Buzz Aldrin, who "coached" it for future space missions. The spacefaring toy was eventually donated to the Smithsonian Institution, where it now resides.

Image: Daniel K Cheung

People seem to love sending LEGO figurines on the craziest adventures, whether it’s strapping them to weather balloons, miniature submarines, or even on a mission to Jupiter! A partnership between NASA and LEGO in 2011 resulted in the creation of a very special set specifically designed for space travel. Three figurines representing statues of Galileo Galilei and the Roman gods Jupiter and Juno were sent onboard NASA’s Juno Mission towards the gas giant.

Image: Vlad Tchompalov

In 2018, SpaceX made headlines when they launched Elon Musk's personal Tesla Roadster into space aboard the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket. The car was piloted by a mannequin dubbed "Starman," and it served as a dummy payload to test the rocket's capabilities without endangering a real (and potentially more costly) payload.

Named after a David Bowie song, the mannequin and its shiny convertible will remain in a heliocentric orbit for millions of years, an enduring testimony to humanity’s ingenuity and sense of humor.

Image: Jesper Aggergaard

Surprisingly, not even dinosaurs are safe from being sent into space! In 1985, fossil bits from Maiasaura peeblesorum, a duck-billed dinosaur, visited the Mir space station onboard the shuttle Endeavor. And in 2014, a Tyrannosaurus fossil was launched into space as part of NASA’s Orion spacecraft test flights. More recently, Jeff Bezos' spaceflight company Blue Origin sent hundreds of 70 million years old Dromaeosaurus fossil fragments on a suborbital trajectory, as part of its "Club for the Future'' initiative.

Image: Alexander Maasch

It seems like SpaceX might send just about anything to space, as in 2010 it launched a wheel of cheese as part of a secret payload onboard the company’s Dragon space capsule. The only reason it was kept secret is because SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk didn’t want to overshadow the success of the test flight.

The wheel of cheese is a - although debatable - reference to a classic skit from the British comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus where John Cleese tries to order cheese from a "cheeseless cheese shop." While the joke might not have landed as well as in Elon’s head, the wheel of cheese certainly did, safely returning to Earth along with the company’s space capsule.

Image: superneox lightsaber

Of course, a real lightsaber should be rigorously space-tested, or at least that’s what anyone who has seen Star Wars would expect. As part of an educational program, in 2007, NASA carried one of the actual Luke Skywalker lightsaber props used in the movies aboard the Discovery space shuttle. The "elegant weapon for a more civilized age" spent a total of 14 days in orbit before successfully returning to Earth - and to George Lucas’s hands.

Image: Vinicius amnx Amano

Who'd have thought there was room for whisky research in space? In 2011, a Scotch distillery named Ardbeg sent samples of its whisky to learn how microgravity would affect the maturation process of their spirit, with the goal of improving whisky production back on Earth. Interestingly, after spending nearly three years in space, Ardbeg’s director of distilling claimed that the samples tasted noticeably different from their terrestrial counterparts, likely due to how microgravity affects the process of oak flavoring that is essential for making scotch.

Image: Mick Haupt

Yes, you read that right. According to some sources, the first object sent into space - even before Sputnik - was in all likelihood a manhole cover that was accidentally launched at turbocharged speed during Operation Plumbbob, one of the earliest nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. government in the 1950s.

Robert Brownlee, one of the scientists who worked on Operation Plumbbob, maintains that the accidental spacecraft was propelled at five times the escape velocity of the Earth (around 125,000 miles per hour) during the nuclear blast, seriously dwarfing the speed of any intentional spacecraft made by humanity so far. In fact, it was going so fast that it wouldn't have time to burn up in the atmosphere, and some argue that it carried enough momentum to actually leave the Solar system entirely.

LANGUAGE FROM COAST TO COAST

Enjoy The Wonderful Variety Of American English With These Regional Terms!

Image: Morgan Lane

As the fourth biggest nation in the world, America is understandably home to many dialects, cultures, and traditions. All fifty states have their very own identity, constructed over generations of Americans working, communicating, and building a legacy. In that sense, each of these states' individuality has paved the way for thousands of unique regional terms and phrases to sprout.

Like we said, America is a massive country, so odds are most of us won’t get the chance to visit every single state and learn all the different dialects this country of ours has to offer. But don’t worry, we got you covered! We have compiled ten of our favorite regional terms for your enjoyment. They might help you on your next road trip! Enjoy!

Image: Rabie Madaci

We’ll start with what’s probably the most versatile word in this article. If you ever visit Philadelphia, you might hear people use the word "jawn" as a replacement for pretty much every noun you can think of. Someone might ask you to pass them "that jawn", or ask you if you know where "that new jawn" is.

Jawn is a context-sensitive word, so in most cases, you would know what the word replaces. Nevertheless, it is the noun to replace all nouns: If you hear someone in the City of Brotherly Love say jawn, they might be referring to anything in existence, from the Declaration of Independence to that salt shaker right in front of you.

Image: Patrick Fore

Need to add a touch of color to that plain-looking ice cream? You might want to ask your server for a spoonful of sprinkles and witness a full rainbow descend upon your vanilla cone. However, should this hypothetical ice cream parlor be located in New England and parts of the Midwest, then you might want to use the preferred word for these small colorful pieces, and ask him or her for some jimmies.

While this term is definitively a New England staple, particularly in Boston, the truth is that jimmies is used in more places than you might imagine. Some places make the distinction depending on which food item is being consumed: For instance, you might call them jimmies when applied on an ice cream, while calling them sprinkles when they are on a donut.

Image: Steven Van Elk

The word "Hoosier" is the official demonym of Indiana: The state has proudly boasted the nickname "The Hoosier State" for over 150 years. However, as proud as the good people of Indiana are of their nickname, the truth is that no one is completely sure about what the word means, or even where it came from.

The origins of this word are shrouded in mystery, but some theories have gained traction over the years. Most agree that the first popular use of Hoosiers as a demonym for Indiana comes from an 1833 poem titled "The Hoosier's Nest".

Image: Anne Nygård

This one is rather imaginative. It takes a particularly creative mind to see an avocado and think "Doesn’t this green, rugged fruit kind of look like the green, rugged skin of an alligator?" It is no wonder that this term likely originated in Florida, where alligators abound.

While avocados were not commercially grown in the United States until the late 1800s, a small production of avocados existed in Florida before that. The pear shape of the avocado combined with its similarities with alligator skin are clearly the origins of this regional term. Although still considered a Southern icon, the term "alligator pear" has seen a decline in popularity.

Image: Phillip Goldsberry

In 1897, the Massachusetts-based furniture company A. H. Davenport and Company designed a particularly popular couch that became known as "the Davenport". While the company itself is now defunct, its legacy continues: This line of sofas is still considered a design icon, and perhaps more importantly, the word "Davenport" has become synonymous with sofas and coaches all around the Great Lakes regions.

Because of the broad meaning this word has gained, it has grown to describe different pieces of furniture in different American regions. For instance, in some New York areas, Davenport is used to describe a couch that can be turned into a bed. However, is still mostly used to describe any sofa, particularly if it's an old or more formal sofa.

Image: Pascal Bernardon

Should the Wicked Witch of the West take a quick trip to Boston, she might be welcomed by a warmer crowd. This adjective has become synonymous with New England, appearing in countless movies, TV shows, and books about the region.

What’s curious is how a word that means evil or nefarious in the rest of the world evolved to become "excellent" or "extremely good" in New England. A theory makes the connection between wicked’s literal meaning and the witch trials that famously took place in Salem, Massachusetts. However, no definitive explanation has been discovered.

Image: Moses Vega

The stoop is a New York institution: these small staircases in front of apartment buildings have been a part of the Big Apple’s origins. They were brought over by settlers from the Netherlands in colonial times. The word comes from the Dutch word stoep, which means "sidewalk" and is pronounced the same way as the English "stoop".

Stoops are not just an architectural staple, but they are also considered a vital component of social life since they have provided New Yorkers with socializing opportunities. Perhaps more importantly, stoops have been used as a playground for generations of children to play street games, even inspiring its own game known as "stoop ball."

Image: Daniel Hooper

Are you out on a hot day and your bottle is empty? Don’t worry, look for the nearest "bubbler" and enjoy some fresh, cold water. While most of the country knows this device as a water fountain, several American cities and towns have been calling them "bubblers" for decades now.

A few examples of states that use the word "bubbler" are Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and southern and eastern Wisconsin. Notably, residents of Portland, Oregon sometimes use the word, in reference to a series of water fountains installed in the 1900s by Simon Benson. These fountains are known as the "Benson Bubblers" and 52 of them are still functional.

Image: Evan Tahler

This one is rather tricky to describe, not because of its complexity, but rather because it means different things in different regions of the country. Should you look up the word "breezeway" in the dictionary, it will describe an open passage, usually roofed, that connects two buildings. The main purpose of this structure is to allow the passage of breeze, whether it is to allow aeration or to accommodate to a high winds region. Notably, in Minnesota they are known as "skyways".

However, this word has a different meaning in the Mid-Atlantic region of the country. In places like Philadelphia and Baltimore, a breezeway is the space that separates two groups of rowhouses in the middle of a city block.

Image: MOHAMMADREZA Kr

We’ll end this article with multiple regional variants of the games we all enjoyed in our childhoods. As we mentioned in our "stoop" entry, these small staircases provided generations of New York children with the perfect playing ground for street games. These countless hours of fun have resulted in a couple of regional variations of our favorite pastimes.

For starters, the game of hopscotch is known in New York City as "potsy". The origins of the word are debated: many believe it is simply derived from the original name, while others believe it comes from "potsherd", which describes a piece of ceramic that would be used to draw the hopscotch line on the pavement. Other regional games include variations of baseball, like stickball (played with a broomstick), or punchball (where the "batter" instead punches the ball).