✨ Space Sights ✨

Did you know? 🤔 Not only does Mars have the tallest mountain in the Solar System, but it also has the deepest valley. At 23,000 feet deep and more than 2500 miles long, Valles Marineris is a sight to behold. 🚀 Hit the follow button for more intriguing space facts like this!

Did you know? 🤔 It's possible that billions of years ago, Venus' climate may have been similar to that of Earth today. However, due to the greenhouse effect, the planet is now too hot and hostile for life. 🚀 Hit the follow button for more intriguing space facts like this!

#OTD in 2011: Final space station assembly mission of the Space Shuttle program launches. The mission was also the final flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour, which had, during its 19-year lifespan, performed 25 missions, including the first Hubble servicing mission in 1993.

Did you know? 🤔 Only two spacecraft have ever visited Mercury - Mariner 10 (1973-75) and MESSENGER (2004-15). BepiColomobo, launched in 2018, and is set to become the third in 2025! 🚀 Hit the follow button for more intriguing space facts like this!

#OTD in 1969: Soviet spacecraft Venera 5 descends into Venus' atmosphere. During the descent through the atmosphere of Venus, the Venera 5 spacecraft sent data back to Earth for 53 minutes. Eventually the temperature and pressure became too high, and contact was lost.

Milky Way over French Alp Hoodoos Looking a bit like an alien castle, the pictured rock spires are called hoodoos and are likely millions of years old. But the background Milky Way galaxy is even older, containing stars that are typically billions of years old!

Did you know? 🤔 It is estimated that in roughly 5 billion years the Sun will enter its red giant phase, swallowing up the inner planets - including Earth! 🚀 Hit the follow button for more intriguing space facts like this!

#OTD in 1963: Final crewed flight of NASA's Mercury program launches Piloted by Gordon Cooper, the flight lasted 34 hours, orbiting Earth 22 times. Cooper became the first American to spend an entire day in space, and the first to sleep in space.

Did you know? 🤔 The exoplanet 55 Cancri e is so close to its star that it whips around it in a mere 18 days. Because of its proximity to its star, its temperature measures a whopping 2,700 degrees Celcius. 🚀 Hit the follow button for more intriguing space facts like this!

#OTD in 1960: Soviet spacecraft Korabl-Sputnik 1 launches Korabl-Sputnik 1 was the first of a series of test flights to determine the means of manned spaceflight. The Vostok program went on to beat the US Mercury program by sending Gagarin into space in April 1961.

Did you know? 🤔 The International Space Station is the third brightest object in the night sky, visible to the naked eye. To spot it, look for an airplane-like light moving quickly across the sky around dawn or dusk! 🚀 Hit the follow button for more space facts like this!

#OTD in 2009: Aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, the Planck space observatory launches, marking the start of 4 years of scientific research Planck played a key role in measuring key cosmological parameters, such as the density of matter & dark matter and the age of the Universe itself.

#OTD in 2009: Herschel Space Observatory is launched. Herschel was the largest infrared space telescope ever launched, and remained in operation for four years between 2009 and 2013. It studied stellar and galactic formation across the Universe.

Did you know? 🤔 The dearMoon project is a lunar project conceived and financed by Japanese billionaire Maezawa. The mission will take a group of artists around the Moon aboard SpaceX's Starship in 2023. 🚀 Hit the follow button for more intriguing space facts like this!

Did you know? 🤔 Apollo 17 was the last crewed mission to the Moon. It broke several records including the longest lunar landing, the longest lunar walk, the largest lunar sample and the most orbits around the Moon. 🚀 Hit the follow button for more space facts like this!

#OTD in 2003: Hellas Sat 2, the first Greek satellite, launches. Hellas Sat 2 was a communications satellite that most notably provided television broadcasting services for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

#OTD in 1964: Little Joe II tests Apollo abort system. Using a boilerplate command module, the test demonstrated the effectiveness of the Apollo abort system as the spacecraft successfully managed to escape the exploding Little Joe rocket at an altitude of 15,000 feet.

Did you know? 🤔 If an astronaut cries, the tears do not fall, rather they stay on their face and form a blob around their eyes. The surface tension of the water holds it together for the most part. 🚀 Hit the follow button for more intriguing space facts like this!

Did you know? 🤔 SpaceX named their spacecraft "Dragon" after the fictional "Puff the Magic Dragon". Musk says this was because many critics considered SpaceX's goals impossible when it was founded in 2002. 🚀 Hit the follow button for more space facts like this!