Top 10 Astronomy - Space Urban Legends - Myths and Truths and Bad Astronomy

1. John Glenn Quote: "I have held jobs."

Perhaps you, like me, have received an email about an impromptu speech made by Ohio senator, Joh Glenn, when a political opponent accused him of never holding a job. The email usually starts by saying, "This exchange between Senators Glenn and Metzenbaum is worth reading. Pretty impressive impromptu speech! Next time someone accuses you or any veteran of not having a 'job' because you're in the military, quote Sen Glenn." - While the speech which follows is fairly accurate, it was not impromptu.

2. Native American Moon Message

The story goes that during training for the moon landing, astronauts visited a reservation because the landscape was imilar to that of the Lunar surface. An elderly Native American watching the proceedings asks to send a message to the moon. - Find out what Snopes, the Urban Legends website has to say about thois tale.

3. Burma Shave Mars Contest: "Trip To Mars For 900 Empty Jars."

While Burma-Shave's clever form of advertising no longer exists, most of us either remember or have heard tales of the cute poetic "to be continued" roadside signs. When a contest, offering free product to those willing to send in their fender, resulted in a number of people wanting to take advantage of the offer, perhaps the company should have been more careful in the future. However, I am sure they felt safe in offering a trip to Mars for 900 empty bottles. Discover the results from Snopes.

4. Bible's Lost Day

I first heard this story in the late 70's. It was said that scientists had determined that the sun and moon were not where they should have been. After careful calculation, they found that the difference was the same as the objects would have moved in one day, therefore proving the Biblical story of the Earth standing still. Is this a case of bad astronomy science? Our own Guide to Urban Legends, David Emery, explores this further.

5. Laurel Clark's Email From Space Shuttle Columbia:

On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry, killing all 7 crew members. This tragedy had a profound effect on many people, throughout the world, but especially for those of us who work in space related fields. This email, which is being forwarded around the Internet is one of the last emails from Laurel Clark, sent to her family, from orbit. I found it to be very moving.

6. Save the Space Chimps

As we're all aware, many early space pioneers were not human. This leads to the subject of an email petition, circulating via the Internet. While the subject of the petition may be real, its ability to affect any change is not.

7. "Small Step" Flub

Those of us old enough to remember watching Neal Armstrong move slowly down the ladder and onto the Lunar surface can also probably still hear his famous mini-speech, "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind." Most of also know that was not what he planned to say. So, what happened? Did Armstrong flub his line?

Update!: New information on this puzzling event.

8. Space Shuttle Columbia Damage

Photographs which are being passed around on the Internet are claimed to show cracks in the wing of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Could these photographs be part of the "smoking gun?

9. Space Shuttle Columbia Explosion Pictures

I received these Space Shuttle Columbia photographs by email, as many others have. The accompanying email claims they were taken by an Israeli spy satellite and show the explosion of the Columbia.

10. Gaylord Perry Homerun

Many people who follow the sport of baseball know Gaylord Perry for his pitching, but this story involves his batting ability. While the homerun from this tale is definitely real, did someone actually make the prediction from the story? Remember Mr. Gorsky.