10 INSANE Things Sent to Space

 

  in the pursuit of journeying to the  stars  mankind has shot some truly crazy stuff  out into the cosmos both in the name of  science and the name of  well just cause we can if any alien  civilizations were to intercept these  bizarre bundles  they may think twice about dropping in  and paying us a visit  so what are some of the weirdest objects  ever sent into space  welcome to  and today we're  going treasure hunting in 10 of the  weirdest objects ever sent into space  number 10 not a broken record  the spacecraft voyager 1 and voyager 2  were launched a mere 16 days apart in  1977  and featured the now infamous voyager  golden records  the mission was to photograph and  document our solar system  but notable astronomer carl sagan raised  a valid point  what if the spacecraft encountered  intelligent life along the way  the golden records contained basic  sonographic information  including greetings spoken in 55  languages  a 90-minute selection of musical  excerpts from around the globe  human brainwaves the natural sounds of  earth's animals and even  images of mathematical definitions and  dna structure  the aim was to offer a brief yet  accurate cross-section of human  civilization for anyone or anything to  decipher should they come across it  president jimmy carter and u.n secretary  general kurt valdheim  also added printed messages to the  package number 9.  music to my ears music has to be one of  the greatest achievements of mankind  equal to or exceeding our ability to  leave the confines of earth and explore  the cosmos  walter shearer jr and thomas stafford  made history when they played the first  musical instrument in the history of  space flight  while aboard the gemini 6a spacecraft  they decided to play a little yuletide  prank on mission control  they reported seeing an unidentified  flying object with a command  module and eight smaller modules in  front it was in a north polar orbit  about to re-enter the atmosphere  at the end of the transmission the pair  played a somewhat off-key rendition of  jingle bells  shira on his tiny four-hour harmonica  and stafford on percussion with a string  of five small bells  number eight stellar send-off there have  been those who feel a great affinity  with the universe  and have had the success and wealth to  sponsor a trip into outer space and find  their final resting place drifting  amongst the stars and the great void of  space  gene roddenberry was the original  creator of star trek  and his last will and testament dictated  that a portion of his ashes be launched  along with the space shuttle columbia in  1992.  similarly james duhon who played scotty  in the same series always wanted his  ashes to be shot up into space  sadly they came crashing back to earth  after a brief orbit in 2007  and a second attempt a year later was  also unsuccessful as the rocket carrying  his ashes exploded over the pacific  ocean  so much for resting in peace well pieces  number seven everybody loves lego nasa  has had a long time partnership with  lego since they introduced the space  themed legos in 1978  a series totaling over 200 individual  sets  it seems fitting then that the little  plastic figurines get a chance to  experience space for themselves  nasa's juno probe took off for jupiter  in 2011  complete with some stowaways on board  there was the roman god jupiter holding  his namesake plate  his mythological wife juno with a  magnifying glass civilizing exploration  study  and the discoverer of the huge gas giant  himself renowned astronomer galileo  galilei  the project was appropriately named  bricks in space and was a combined  effort to inspire a new generation of  children to chase careers in aerospace  after all if lego characters can become  astronauts then anyone can  number six use the force luke the star  wars franchise inspired the imagination  of whole generations and it's still  popular today as it's ever been  as well as its most beloved characters  it seems only fitting that a man who  traveled across the galaxy at light  speed combating space monsters and  liberating the oppressed gets the  ultimate tribute  mark hamill who played luke skywalker  donated the lightsaber he wielded in  return of the jedi as a good luck charm  to commemorate the star wars 20th  anniversary  the seven astronauts were tasked with  assembling the harmony node 2 module  and brought the lightsaber back with  them after a successful mission  safe and sound though they didn't bring  balance to the force they did install a  module that connected the laboratory  modules of the u.s  europe and japan on the international  space station as well as power and  electronic data upgrades  five to infinity and beyond there isn't  a human being alive who hasn't seen toy  story  it doesn't matter if you're a kid or an  adult there's something for everyone in  this much love story about pals buzz and  woody  and their journey to find their way home  the sts-124  discovery mission took off in 2008 with  mascot buzz lightyear on board  in all he stayed in space for 450 days  before coming back to earth with the  rest of his crew  it was a dream come true for the plastic  space man as he stayed aboard the  international space station as part of  disney's  year of a million dreams number four  beetle mania sir paul mccartney is  easily the most recognizable member of  the pop super group the beatles  affectionately known as maca by the rest  of the band his voice was used as an  integral part of nasa's deep space  network program  he recorded a simple message send my  love to the aliens  all the best paul his voice was sent  traveling in an  uncountable number of directions from  earth out into the cosmos  traveling at the speed of light 186  000 miles per second one such target was  the north star polaris which is 431  light years away from earth  his message of goodwill to all the  little green men from outer space will  likely arrive at polaris  long after our great great great  grandchildren's great great great great  grandchildren's lifetimes  in 431 years and who knows we might even  have space colonies by then  for populations living on other worlds  and planets outside of our solar system  we can only dream three who ordered the  large pepperoni  in an insanely expensive and arguably  uber successful publicity stunt  pizza hut became the first fast food  restaurant in history to send a delivery  order into outer space  in 2001 they agreed to a million dollar  fee  to have russian space agency ross cosmos  take a pizza pie into orbit  to give cosmonaut yuri usuhoy a taste of  home  it was a basic recipe crispy crust  topped with napoletina sauce and cheese  pepperoni was excluded in favor of  salami in order to enhance the pizza's  flavor in zero gravity  extra salt and spices were used to  combat the phenomenon of taste bud  depletion that those in orbit exhibit in  microgravity  2. furry friends in the 1950s animal  rights were next to non-existent  as a result a whole bunch of different  animals were launched into space in an  attempt to study how living physiology  is  changed by the rigors of intense g-force  and the weightlessness of outer space  la ica the dog was the first to be sent  out by the soviets and in the span of  just a few weeks in 1957  went from lovable streetcar of moscow to  the pilot of sputnik 2.  no happy ending sadly as the space pooch  did not survive the flight  the u.s doubled down in 1961 when ham  the chimpanzee  answered the call to arms the  space-bound simeon traveled at a speed  of 5  800 miles per hour at an altitude of 157  miles above the earth  despite the incredible forces acting on  his body he performed his tasks  flawlessly and survived re-entry earning  his immediate retirement  number one forget fossil fuels whether  you think elon musk is a visionary of  the future  or merely an over-eccentric cinti  billionaire there's no denying that the  man pulls some pretty hilarious  publicity stunts  back in 2018 his company spacex did a  little bit of cross-promotion when they  sent a tesla roadster into orbit  piloted by a brave hero and space  suit-clad mannequin named starman  it was a strangely appropriate way to  christen and commemorate the maiden  voyage of the falcon heavy rocket that  will someday be used to ferry mankind to  mars  both the launch and starman's helmet cam  were streamed live on the internet  and although it's impossible to hear in  the void of space the cars stereo was  blasting david bowie's hit track  life on mars on repeat 24 7.  starman is currently cruising around in  a solar orbit  will eventually cross into mars orbit  before crash landing on venus in 10  million years time