Here is my question. 13 people (12 men, 1 woman) have flown solo Earth orbital missions. Who was the most recent?

I think that was Yang Liwei from China on Shenshou 5 back in 2003...

That would be the chap.

Cool...

An associated question:

Yang Liwei from China was the most recent solo space flier in an orbital mission.

Who was the one prior to Liwei?

Nicely ambiguous MID, are we talking Earth orbit?

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Oh...

Sorry Wasp...

Yes, we're talking solo earth orbital flight.
The last person prior to Liwei to orbit the Earth solo in a spacecraft ( real astronaut...not spaceship one or anything sub-orbital...)????



And no, D...it wasn't David Bowie, nor was it Major Tom!

Well the last solo orbital mission prior to Liwei was Soyuz 3, piloted by Georgi Beregovoi, 26th - 30th October 1968. However the last person to orbit the Earth solo (and knowing your affinity to Apollo I'm guessing this is the answer you are looking for) was Command Module Pilot Dave Scott of Apollo 9 after the separation of the LM on 6th March 1969.

Am I correct sir?

how many miles is it for orbit guys? over 300,000 feet?

There is no actual minimum altitude for orbit, it is limited by the atmosphere... you must be above the majority of that.

Space officially begins at an altitude of 100km (62.1 miles or 328,000 ft). This is the figure set by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) who are the official body that recognise aeronautical and astronautical records.

The US Air Force recognises space as beginning a little lower, at 50 miles (80.5km or 264,000ft) and several X-15 pilots are recognised by the USAF as astronauts but not by the FAI.

I hope that answers you question DONTEATUS. It has given me an idea, I am going to start a Q&A thread where people can ask such questions even if they don't want to play the trivia game.

I'll tell you Waspie, that was a tricky question.

YOU GOT IT RIGHT!

If you hadn't mentioned Dave solo on Earth orbit...I'd have said, NOPE...! He was the last one to actually be solo on orbit around the Earth, and that was the criteria of the question!

The one prior to Dave Scott was actually Boris Volynov, on Soyuz 5 (although you're correct in that the last mission, designed and executed entirely solo, was Soyuz 3). The Soviets had these missions where they were doing rendezvous and docking on orbit, and transferring crew members from one craft to the other. Soyuz 4, on January 14, 1969 was occupied by one Cosmonaut at launch. Soyuz 5 launched the next day with three on board. Two of them transfered to the Soyuz 4 craft. Soyuz 4 re-entered with three Cosmonauts on January 17, and Volynov re-entered solo on January 18, 1969 in Soyuz 5.

Whatever...you got it right and the question moves to you!

Indeed. The reason I checked on the Earth orbital part was because I didn't want you pointing out that Apollo 17 CMP Ronald Evns orbited the Moon solo in December 1972 and as such was the last man to fly in space solo before Liwei




I had forgotten about Soyuz 4 & 5.

They were testing a technique they needed for their planned moon mission. Unlike the USA they intended to transfer a cosmonaut from the Zond command module to their LM equivalent via EVA. The mission carried out by Souyz 4 and 5 was that originally planned for Soyuz 1 and 2. Because of the problems with Soyuz 1, Soyuz 2 was not launched and sadly Soyuz 1's cosmonaut, Colonel Vladimir Komarov was killed when the craft crashed on landing.

My question:

The shuttle Enterprise was originally intended to fly in space but instead remained a ground test article. Which of the shuttles which have flown in space made the opposite transition, originally being intended as a ground test vehicle before becoming a flight worthy vehicle?

Precisely...and YOU are one of the few people I thought would see that!





I think you're talking about Challenger...which was built for flight status around a frame that was originally intended as a test article...perhaps???

Indeed I was.

I will not answer the next question even if I know the answer in the hope that we attract some new players, so come on MID, lets have a nice, not too obscure, question.

OK...nice easy stuff...


First words said on the surface of the Moon.


Who said, "Man must explore, and this is exploration at it's greatest!"

I think Iv got it!.

It was Buzz Aldrin.

Stupid of me,almost forgot.The Question (Easy).

How many stages did the Apollo Rocket have.

Two points here:

Firstly which Apollo rocket? The Apollo-Saturn Ib or the Apollo-Saturn V, because the answer is different depending? (OK, I'm being picky here as I suspect you mean the Saturn V as it was the vehicle used to go to the Moon).

The second and more important point, it's not your question as your answer was wrong, it wasn't Buzz Aldrin. It wasn't even Apollo 11.

Now how did I miss that

Negative.
No question. It was not Buzz Aldrin...as Waspie said.

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Did you not read this comment I made?

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Read the whole question.

What MID is asking is whose first words on the surface of the Moon were, ""Man must explore, and this is exploration at it's greatest!" No matter how many times you say it the answer will still not be Neil Armstrong.

I am a bit lost here. .

Was it the first moon landing .

David Scott, Mission Apollo 15

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Correct. Your question.

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Who wants to ask the next question, I can't think of one right now.

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Anyone know who this man with the intense look on his face is and what he is about to do?

Dont you mean capacitor.

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DONTEATUS, I seriously suggest you take a look at the rules of this site, especially these:

Your recent posts in this thread and others are in clear breach of these rules. From now on I suggest that you either make on topic, sensible posts or refrain from posting at all. I suggest you make your decision wisely.. or it will be made for you.

Anyone know who that is and what he was getting ready to do????

nope, no idea.. printed the picture and stared at it for the whole day, and nope. I had no idea.

EDIT: Ok now I know who is he. with proper research.
this guy >>
name: Alan Shepard
Situation: He was preparing for the centrifugal test.

Beat me to it. If MID had used an imaging hosting site like ImageShack I wouldn't have known the answer. It is amazing what you can find out if you know the where the image is hosted isn't it?

I should have got the answer given that May 5th was the 47th Anniversary of Shepherd becoming the first American in space.

yep.. It just struck me.. and then there it was.. the answer.

Question: on what Skylab mission did Astronaut Alan L. Bean participated.

After a quick bit of research, Skylab Mission 2 (SL-3). He was up there for 59 days, from 29th July to 25th September, 1973.

You've got it 80% correctly! It was actually Skylab Mission 3.

That was the one.
I'd give seffy 100%...."SL-3"

Thanking you.

Question: In which constellation can the famous Horsehead Nebula be found?

Orion.

Correct. Looks like Waspie has a challenger for the top Astronomy title in you Mid. Your go dude

Hey, there's no challenge... I know there are far more knowledgeable people than me posting here.

Um....I don't think I'm one of them!



Horsehead was pretty easy...!

NEXT QUESTION, NEXT QUESTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Sorry but tonight I am burning up here to answer a question.

OK, here it is...

EVA Trivia:


We've been building the ISS for 10 years now.
On 7 December 1998 the first ISS construction EVA took place during the STS-88 mission.

How many EVAs have been done in support of ISS construction (all ISS expedition and Shuttle crews included) to date?

I think from 1998 up until now.

33 EVAs