Level 0

  • Clue: IyMjIyMjQUZEMjAxNlN0YXJ0
  • The answer: ######AFD2016Start, decoding the clue with base64

Level 1

  • Clue: IyMjIyMjWm54ckN5aGdiTkN5bmFyZ050bnZh
  • Like in the previous puzzle, the clue is encoded with base64, but additionally obscured by rot13
  • The answer: ######MakePlutoAPlanetAgain

Level 2

  • Clue: Vmxad1ZsWndIM091TEpTdUxKU3VMSlN1TEpTdUxKU3VMMkF3TDJJeU1KSXkK
  • Another combination of base64 and rot13
  • The answer: ######Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacccceeeee

Level 3

Level 4

  • Clues: Заря́ | Red Sky Glow
  • Заря́ literally means "Red Sky Glow" or "Aurora"
  • Zarya, the English name for Заря́, was the first module of the ISS to be launched
  • The answer: ######Zarya

Level 5

Level 6

  • Clues: 011-012-013-014-015-040 | do as I do (mimic) | encode | 124-110-111-123 | 8 | white
  • The numbers from the first clue are all whitespace characters in ASCII
  • The second and third hint explain what to do with this information. Encoding the word "whitespace" like this yields "127-110-111-124-105-123-120-101-103-105"
  • The rest of the hints were added later, with 124-110-111-123 decoding to "THIS", 8 hinting at 8-bit codes, and white hinting at "white" space
  • The answer: ######127-110-111-124-105-123-120-101-103-105

Level 7

  • Clues: beetle juice | radiation | space people | 224 | the bright dots | the bright moving dots | a very very bright dot | nothingness | america's success | soviets's success | https://i.imgur.com/Aw7Y43r.png
  • Words:
    • beetle juice -> Betelgeuse
    • radiation -> radiation
    • space people -> astronaut
    • 224 -> andromeda
    • the bright dots -> stars
    • the bright moving dots -> planets
    • a very very bright dot -> sun
    • nothingness -> vacuum
    • america's success -> apollo
    • soviet's success -> sputnik
  • The answer: ######oerbnanrao

Level 8:

Level 9:

  • Clues: large galaxy, not small (3 words) | pretty lights | same length | definitely not the same length | kaboom | a few stars in orion | a radius | claudius | harry potter character | not space | https://i.imgur.com/xEn26m0.png <- VERSION #3 | number of words
  • The topic changed numerous times, with hints also added to the crossword image itself
  • Words:
    • large galaxy, not small -> Large Magellanic Cloud (three words)
    • pretty lights -> aurora
    • same length -> equinox
    • definitely not the same length -> solstice
    • kaboom -> supernova
    • a few stars in orion -> rigel
    • a radius -> schwarzschild
    • claudius -> ptolemy
    • harry potter character -> bellatrix
    • not space -> terrestrial
  • The answer: ######qpiusarorc

Level 10:

  • Clues: USENA KLFEU SENAK NAKUS ENAKN AKUSE NAKLF EUSED LEDLE USENA KNAKU SENAK LFEUS EENQS UBSOU DC1SO UESCE OTESC | 3 | bpp | ignore padding | not thematic | the answer is not just garbage, but might be a bit hard to read | 8 | rotated | 3
  • As with the previous puzzle, the topic here changed numerous times
  • Editing the first clue a bit yields: USE NAK LFE USE NAK NAK USE NAK NAK USE NAK LFE USE DLE DLE USE NAK NAK USE NAK LFE USE ENQ SUB SOU DC1 SOU ESC EOT ESC
  • These are all ASCII control characters (with additional padding: US[E], SO[U])
  • People were expected to put the actual characters into a file and look at the binary representation. With one column per byte and groups of three, it becomes (0 removed):
   11111
   1 1 1
    1 1 

   11111
   1 1 1
   1 1 1

   11111
   1 1 1
   1 1 1

   11111
   1 1 1
    1 1 

   11111
   1    
   1    

   11111
   1 1 1
   1 1 1

   11111
   1 1 1
    1 1 

   11111
     1 1
   11 1 

   11111
   1   1
   11111

   11 11
     1  
   11 11
  • The answer: ######Beeblebrox

Level 11

  • Clues: a pioneer(strong) | sun farts | where we are(big picture) | accelerating weight loss(17 across) | a huge structure(largest) | 244 225(8859-7) | sounds similar(star wars) | 07 39 18 11950(05 13 29 9552) | cheese | the big one(sp, 2 words) | the bright one | i.imgur.com/KDiMQ2p.png ← NEW | spaces allowed

  • Words:

    • a pioneer (strong) -> Neil Armstrong
    • sun farts -> solar winds
    • where we are (big picture) -> local group
    • accelerating weight loss -> Hawking Radiation
    • a huge structure (largest) -> filament
    • 244 225(8859-7) -> Aldebaran
    • sounds similar (star wars) -> Alderaan
    • 07 39 18 11950(05 13 29 9552) -> Procyon
    • cheese -> moon
    • the big one (sp, 2 words) -> El Gordo
    • the bright one -> Sirius

  • The answer: ######iaroamegac

Level 12

  • Clues: https://is.gd/nMYVhB | https://is.gd/N5ogMy | blue
  • The puzzle in the picture is a Nonogram, solving it gets you a QR-code
  • Scanning the QR-code reveals the message "Спутник-1"
  • Find Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Wikipedia page for Спутник-1 (Sputnik 1)
  • The answer: ######BaikonurCosmodrome