› added 6 years ago

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TIL after losing automatic control of his Mercury capsule, astronaut Gordon Cooper was forced to use his knowledge of constellations, wristwatch, and his eyeballs to manually land his spacecraft. He ended up splashing just 4 miles from his recovery ship, the most accurate landing up to that point.

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WPEo TIL that in the Star Wars Universe, Ewok Jerky was a popular snack across the Outer Rim.
wojAY TIL In 1998, Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung sent 1001 cattle as a symbol of positive progress from South Korea to North Korea as humanitarian aid during a famine to promote peace and strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries. Sadly, many of them didn't survive the first winter season.
nWvMo TIL during sling load operations with helicopters, a dangerous amount of static can build up on the airframe so one of the loaders has to use a discharge wand hooked to a grounding stake or they will receive a fatal electric shock.
jN9dQ TIL of Grierson's Raid during the American Civil War. Union cavalry rode over 600 miles through Confederate territory destroying railroads, freeing slaves and inflicting ten times the casualties they received.
N7W11 TIL the opening crawl to Star Wars begins with a storybook-esque narration ("A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....") because George Lucas first imagined his films as stories being told by an ancient race of immortals. The immortals were written out for early films, but this vestige remained.