Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Unable to distinguish the difference between water and mouse urine

Wherein I first think of unusual as meaning weird more than uncommon
so would never have thought professional basketball player as an
unusual job



1. pass
2. France and Spain?
3. Wait, things that don't move or paper? I always need to look these
up. Got it. No answer, though.
4. pass
5. pass
6. pass
7. don't care. I'll guess order of mammals shot into space. Unless,
wasn't Laika the space dog first? No, just the href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika">first launched into orbit.
The order on href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_in_space">this wiki page
has chimps before rats, which would make my guess wrong. Though that
page really needs a better focus on chronology and exact dates.
Should've gone to NASA href="http://history.nasa.gov/animals.html">first. Missing exact
dates for proof, but does suggest Russians used rats and rabbits before
dogs. There it is: Chimp, Jan 31, 1961; guinea pig, March 6, 1961;
human, April 12, 1961; cat, Oct 18, 1963

Four black mice were launched on June 3, 1959, on Discoverer
3, part of the Corona program of U.S. spy satellites, which was
launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a Thor Agena A rocket. This
was the only Discoverer flight with an animal payload. The mice died
when the Agena upper stage fired downward, driving the vehicle into the
Pacific Ocean. The first try at launch was scrubbed after the telemetry
indicated no sign of activity in the capsule and the first crew of four
black mice was found dead. The mouse cages had been sprayed with krylon
to cover rough edges, and the mice had found the krylon tastier than
their formula and overdosed on it. The second try at launch with a
backup mouse crew was halted when the humidity sensor in the capsule
indicated 100-percent humidity. The capsule was opened up and it was
discovered that the sensor was located underneath one of the mouse
cages; it was unable to distinguish the difference between water and
mouse urine. After the sensor was dried out, the launch proceeded.

2 Comments:

Blogger bill said...

bah, cutting and pasting screwed up the formatting. Probably won't go back in and fix it.

6/03/2009 06:25:00 AM  
Blogger XWL said...

1) Vertical Horizon had a number 1 hit?

2) Nadal=Spain, Federer=Switzerland

3) Scotch Tape

4) I'm guessing Paul Blart Mall Cop, and I just died a little inside for it.

5) The not actually Iron, Iron Mask?

6) Asunciion, Paraguay, I'm thinking.

7) I think you're right on with the space thing, also, someone needs to send up a space pig, pronto. I want my space bacon. I bet space bacon sliced off a space pig would be the best of all possible bacons.

6/04/2009 05:12:00 PM  

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