Think you know everything worth knowing about NASA? Think again. Whether it involves buying spacecraft parts on eBay or a legal fight over Mars, the space agency’s full history is absolutely crazy.

Since President Dwight D. Eisenhower set up NASA in 1958, the space agency has been responsible for all kinds of scientific achievements. But beyond landing men on the moon and discovering new planets, there’s plenty about the organization you probably don’t know. These 20 eye-opening facts, for example, reveal some of the crazy truths behind NASA’s incredible history.

20. NASA was once sued for landing on Mars

In 1997, three Yemeni men took legal action against NASA for landing a spacecraft on Mars. They claimed that they’d inherited the planet 3,000 years ago and could even back it up with the necessary documents. Of course, it didn’t take long for NASA to shoot down the ridiculous lawsuit. An international treaty signed in 1967 states that everything beyond Earth is the property of humanity, rather than a single nation – or three men.

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt via Getty Images

19. There’s a NASA program to protect aliens from human bacteria

Just in case we ever do find life beyond Earth, NASA has set up its own Office of Planetary Protection. That’s not to protect us from them, however. In fact, it’s actually to keep them safe from us, ensuring no bacteria traveling from Earth can contaminate the other planets.

18. NASA hopes to send humans to Mars by 2030

NASA will land humans on Mars by 2030. Or at least, that’s its current aim, as outlined by former president Barack Obama. The initial mission will involve just getting astronauts there and back again. But further down the line, NASA wants to send humans there for “an extended time,” as Obama put it.

17. The original moon-landing tapes were wiped

In 2006, NASA admitted to the blunder of a lifetime: the original tapes of the 1969 moon landings were nowhere to be found. When they eventually turned up, they were blank – having been erased and re-used to cut costs. Luckily, CBS still had a few decent copies of the original news broadcast to hand, saving the blushes of pretty much the entire organization.

16. NASA pays people to stay in bed

Ever wanted to get paid to lay in bed all day? Of course you have. Well, how about working for NASA? From time to time, the space agency conducts “Bed Rest Studies,” which requires participants to lie on their backs for 70 days straight. In exchange, it will hand over a whopping $18,000. The studies help NASA scientists figure out how to keep astronauts healthy while they are traveling in space.

15. The Super Soaker was invented by a NASA scientist

NASA scientist Lonnie Johnson made a name for himself within the organization after working on the original stealth bomber. But he was also the brains behind a household toy: the much-loved Super Soaker water pistol, which first appeared on shelves in 1990.

14. This big bang can’t be explained

Space is, by definition, basically full of the unknown. And while scientists have done a pretty good job of figuring out what’s in our immediate vicinity, there’s one sound they haven’t been able to explain. In 2009, an instrument in the atmosphere received a signal from light years away – a “booming noise six times louder than anyone had predicted,” according to NASA scientist Alan Kogut. To this day, it’s an absolute mystery.

13. Your toaster could basically put a man on the moon

There’s no denying that NASA operates at the cutting edge of technology. But even 1969’s tech paled in comparison to what we have now – which is why the computer system in your toaster might actually be more advanced than the one that sent astronauts to the moon. In fact, the Apollo Guidance Computer had only 64 kb of memory, maxing out at 0.043 MHz. Next time, then, you might think twice before complaining that your laptop is slow.

12. NASA was once fined $400 by Australia

When NASA spacecraft debris landed in Australia, the country slapped the space agency with a $400 fine – for littering. In 1979, parts of the abandoned Skylab, a manned orbiting laboratory, managed to land on the west coast of the country, rather than the planned target of the Indian Ocean. The fine was eventually paid 20 years later after a radio DJ in California raised the money from his audience.

11. You’re not an astronaut until you’ve reached 62 miles

Just because you work for NASA, it doesn’t mean you are automatically an astronaut. In fact, NASA will only confirm your astronaut status if you travel 100 kilometers – that’s 62 miles – above the Earth. This is where space officially begins – at least according to the World Air Sports Federation, whose metrics NASA uses to determine who is or isn’t an astronaut.

10. Forgetting to convert to metric cost $125 million

Everyone has a bad day at the office every now and then. But that excuse probably didn’t fly for the engineers who managed to lose a $125 million NASA spacecraft. The Mars Climate Orbiter’s navigation commands were incorrectly uploaded because half the team was using imperial measurements while the other was using metric. You couldn’t make it up.

9. Cape Canaveral’s location saves fuel

You might wonder why NASA chose Cape Canaveral to be its most famous launch site. After all, the weather is bad in the summer, with storms besieging Florida’s coastline. But as space historian Roger Launius told Scientific American in 2009, the weather can be tricky everywhere you go. And Cape Canaveral is in close proximity to the equator, where the linear velocity is far greater (think of it as being at the edge of a fan blade rather than closer to the center) – meaning spacecraft launching from there won’t require as much fuel to make it to space.

8. NASA designed a now-banned super-fast swimsuit

Just like airplane pilots and astronauts, Olympic swimmers have to contend with the forces of drag. That’s why NASA teamed up with Speedo in 2004 to design a swimsuit that would repel drag. Unfortunately, NASA’s research into aerodynamics was actually too successful when applied to swimwear. Indeed, the incredibly effective suit was eventually banned for giving its wearers an unfair advantage.

7. It had to resort to looking for spacecraft parts on eBay

Back in 2002, NASA officials were engaged in a “scavenger hunt” for spacecraft parts, according to the United Space Alliance’s Jeff Carr. The alliance, which maintains NASA’s fleet of space shuttles, was forced to turn to websites like eBay to find replacement parts for its older craft. The necessary electronics were so outdated that they weren’t even in production any more – but were crucial to ensuring the shuttles still operated smoothly.

Image: NASA/Joel Kowsky via Getty Images

6. Work has begun on a warp drive

Think traveling through hyperspace only happens in science-fiction films? Think again. By 2012, NASA had already started working on an actual warp drive, just like the ones seen in Star Trek. While the tech might be years away from coming to fruition, NASA scientists believe that bending the fabric of space and time could actually be feasible.

5. Neil Armstrong almost wasn’t an astronaut at all

Neil Armstrong may have been the first man to land on the moon, but he almost never made it into NASA at all. Indeed, his astronaut application was submitted a week late – and if it wasn’t for one of his friends who already worked at the agency, who bumped it into the pile of considered applicants, he would most likely have been rejected.

4. A NASA intern was jailed after having sex on the moon…

In 2002, NASA intern Thad Roberts was sentenced to 100 months in prison after having sex on the moon. Or rather, sex on some moon rocks, which he’d stolen straight from NASA. He was caught trying to sell the rocks online – but not before he’d done the deed with his girlfriend.

3. The first men on the moon had their own life insurance scheme

Unsurprisingly, the original Apollo astronauts didn’t qualify for life insurance before their trip to the moon. Luckily, NASA came up with a rather ingenious backup plan. Before they left, the space-farers signed special postcard-sized documents. In the event that they didn’t make it back, the “insurance covers” would have been invaluable to collectors – giving their families something to fall back on. Thankfully, it never came to that, but the covers still became sought-after collectors’ items.

2. Quinoa might fuel the future of space travel

NASA is considering taking quinoa into space. The grain crop is packed with nutrients and is easily digested – making it a perfect contender in NASA’s Controlled Ecological Life Support System, a program that tests possible crops for extended, manned journeys into space.

1. Space insulin is a thing

NASA’s work isn’t only about improving the wellbeing of its astronauts. In 1998, a team of researchers grew insulin crystals in space, using their increased size (compared to Earth-grown crystals) to develop a new form of insulin. And it was so effective that the new form only needed to be injected by diabetics once every three days, as opposed to multiple times per day.