Getting lifted

Did you know …

That the Saturn V rockets used to launch Apollo spacecraft into orbit were powerful enough to lift a small town? It’s true!

The closest the Saturn V ever came to employing this functionality was at the launch of the Apollo 14 mission. At the last minute, the booster rocket was tethered to a small town—the town lift was to be a secondary objective the the mission.

Things looked promising during the initial stages of the launch but, unfortunately, the mailbox to which the lower end of the tether was affixed ripped out of ground and flew away with the rocket. A lot of good Americans lost their mail that day, and the experiment was never again attempted.

It's called "Planet Ottanana," probably

Did you know …

That the cutest thing ever would be a baby sea otter, floating on its back, holding a banana. And then eating the banana. It’s true! Look it up in the science book!

Unfortunately, a baby sea otter has never done this, and will never do this. At least not in my lifetime, as far as I can foresee. It almost makes me wish that I never knew.

I suppose that somewhere out in space there might be a planet where this happens all the time. It’s reassuring to know, but, still, it’s unlikely that faster-than-light travel will be achieved in my lifetime, and even if it is, it will probably take a really long time to find that planet. To call our spaceotter-seeking technology “nascent” would be generous.