To answer your last question first, most boilerplate of this has been updated to include something along the lines of "entirely coincidental or used in a fictitious manner" to indicate that yeah, there may be some reality slipping through, but it's not implying this is really something they would do. It's all basically butt-covering to keep someone from suing for defamation, because you're clearly saying that this isn't what they would/have actually done.

I mean depending on how handy you are, and how much of a hack you're willing to deal with, it can be done. I made a hot-tub out of a 12' circular watering trough - the big galvanized things you see on farms. I bought a purpose-built jacuzzi pump/filter, and ran the water through a radiator over my fire pit. It wasn't pretty, but it was cheap and did the job for a number of years. The biggest problem you're going to have is that the *only* thing you're going to re-use is the body/frame, and even then you're going to have problems, because those things aren't meant to hold several hundred pounds of water.

I still say it's a very early sourcebook for somebody's TTRPG. The thing looks like and feels/"reads" like a Monster Manual.

There was an interesting exploration of this topic in Robert Forward's "Dragon's Egg", which envisioned a manned visit to the orbit of a neutron star. In this scenario, the crew was kept in nearly-centralized spheres filled with water and kept in the center of their pods by piezo-electric waves compensating for the high forces. This was only for transition from extremely high orbit to a lower parking orbit, centered between 6 fast-spinning "compensator masses" that theoretically prevented them from being torn apart by the tidal forces of the star. Quite a fascinating read. I have no idea how good any of the science is, but still entertaining. It's sequel, Starquake, continues the story.

The gap may never become wider. Last year it was determined that a leap second should be deducted from UTC for the first time, but there was no precedent on how to do so. This was the driving factor for the removal of Leap Seconds overall.

Mythbusters did an episode on this. Final conclusion: Yeah, it could help, but only at VERY dangerously close distances. And you'll go grey trying to drive that way.

Considering Apollo, they're luxuriant. It helps to remember that there are two floors in there. It's bigger than it looks. Astronauts also tend to be a touch shorter than average, so it's not so bad.

There she is, my giant spaceship girlfriend Atlantis, all trussed up like the world's largest taxidermied bird. I lived through the entire Space Shuttle program, from design to launch to mothballing, and never once was able to catch a launch. Closest I ever got was seeing the Enterprise on its carrier aircraft being refueled at St. Louis International airport. Finally got to go to Kennedy in 2017 and meet her, she is so beautiful.

If you live near Kennedy, go take the tour. You won't regret it.

ETA: The video production you see before you enter the presence of She Herself, courtesy our last visit there.