Strange things humans have sent to outer space - From artifacts to personal totems, even the dead have made the journey from our planet to outer space.

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Guns -

Back in the day, Soviet cosmonauts went into space carrying a triple-barrel TP-82. The weapon was deemed necessary after 1965 when cosmonauts landed back on Earth and became stranded in the Ural Mountains.

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Guns -

This was because the isolated cosmonauts feared the local wolves and bears would attack them. In 2006, the TP-82s were replaced with a standard semi-automatic.

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Animals -

Sadly, during the early stages of space exploration, animals were used in spaceflight tests. The first animal sent to space was Laika, a Soviet dog. Launched on the Sputnik 2 in 1957, Laika didn't survive the spaceflight.

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Animals -

In 1961, Ham became the first chimpanzee in space. He was sent by the US on the Mercury-Redstone 2 mission. Ham died 22 years after his historic flight.

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Fizzy drinks -

In 1984, Coca-Cola announced that they wanted to put the first carbonated beverage on a space shuttle. They spent US$250,000 developing a can that would work without gravity, keep the drink fizzy, and not spill. They even changed some of their formula in the process.

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Fizzy drinks -

However, after NASA agreed, Pepsi responded that they wanted to join in. So in 1985, four cans of Pepsi and four cans of Coke were on board the Challenger.

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Human remains -

A company called Celestis specializes in booking "memorial spaceflights" and, together with Elon Musk's' rocket company SpaceX, the remains of several people were able to be launched into space.

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Human remains -

'Star Trek' creator Gene Roddenberry's (pictured) remains were on the inaugural Celestis flight in 1997. His remains took flight again in 2012 with the remains of 'Star Trek' actor James Doohan and astronaut Gordon Cooper.

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Parts of the Wright brothers' plane -

Orville and Wilbur Wright's plane, Kitty Hawk, is famous for being the first airplane to make a sustained flight with humans aboard, in 1903.

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Parts of the Wright brothers' plane -

In 1969, Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the Moon, took parts of Kitty Hawk with him during NASA's Apollo 11 mission. This included four pieces of muslin fabric from the plane's wing and two pieces of its propeller.

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Salmonella -

Two shuttle flights from the International Space Station (ISS) contained samples of salmonella to determine how the bacteria would react at low gravity. After being in orbit for 12 days, the samples came back to Earth with some scary findings. The bacteria had become even more dangerous.

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Salmonella -

The study showed that the bacteria that had taken a space trip was three times as likely to kill the lab mice as the salmonella that was kept on Earth in similar conditions.

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A Tesla -

In 2018, Elon Musk took it to another level, as SpaceX launched a red Tesla Roadster into space on the Falcon Heavy rocket’s test flight.

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A Tesla -

But the Tesla wasn't alone. Starman, a mannequin dressed in a spacesuit, sat in the car's driver’s seat.

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Pizza Hut -

Not satisfied with being the first company to advertise on a rocket, in 2001 Pizza Hut paid the Russian space agency about US$1 million to become the first company to deliver a pizza to someone in space.

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Pizza Hut -

The pizza delivered to cosmonaut Yuri Usachov was topped with pizza sauce, cheese, and salami because pepperoni quickly grows moldy. Extra salt and spices were also added to compensate for the deadening of taste buds in space.

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Amelia Earhart’s watch -

In 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean solo. Having broken many aviation records, she was presumed dead in 1937 after disappearing while trying to circumnavigate the globe.

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Amelia Earhart’s watch -

An inspiration for many female aviators and astronauts, NASA astronaut Shannon Walker took Earhart's wristwatch, which she wore on her famous trans-Atlantic flight, to the ISS in 2010.

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Lego -

In 2012, Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa built a small Lego version of the ISS during his stay on the station.

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Lego -

It took Furukawa more than two hours to build the model, which is impressive considering the lack of gravity.

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Dinosaur bones -

In 1985, astronaut Loren Acton brought small bits of bone and eggshell from the dinosaur Maiasaura peeblesorum on the SpaceLab 2.

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Dinosaur bones -

Thirteen years later, the skull of a meat-eating Coelophysis was a passenger on a trip to the Mir space station.

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Tardigrades -

In 2007, tardigrades, also known as water bears, became the first animals to survive direct exposure to outer space. The eight-legged creatures survived being frozen at -328°F (-200°C), and being heated to more than 300°F (148°C) on their trip to space.

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Tardigrades -

Renowned for being able to survive extreme conditions, a report in 2008 revealed that 68% of the tardigrades managed to survive direct exposure to space.

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Luke Skywalker's lightsaber -

The lightsaber that actor Mark Hamill used in 'Episode VI: Return of the Jedi' (1983) was flown into space back in 2007.

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Luke Skywalker's lightsaber -

The lightsaber flew with a team of seven astronauts who delivered and assembled the Harmony module, also known as Node 2. The event also marked the 30th anniversary of George Lucas' franchise.

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See-through fish (medaka) -

Since the medaka’s organs are visible due to their transparent skin, scientists used them to help determine why astronauts suffer from a decrease in bone density while in orbit.

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See-through fish (medaka) -

With the medaka's help, the findings could help us understand how human bodies adapt to space, as well as to diseases like osteoporosis.

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Honorable mention: zero-G indicators -

Astronauts have a tradition of picking an unusual item as their zero-G indicator, which is an object that begins to float around them when gravity lessens. Some examples include Baby Yoda (Grogu), Snoopy the dog, and a Buzz Lightyear figure.

Sources: (Mental Floss) (Live Science) (Space)

See also: A rare look into the daily lives of astronauts in space

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