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What You Don't Know About Living in Space
Ant writes "There are spectacular moments, as well as the mundane, in space. Over the years, living in space has forced astronauts to make a few concessions to things you would not give a second thought about when staying at a hotel/motel. The article lists a few things that people may not have known about living in space." Your iPod needs to be modified to use Alkaline batteries. And also, did you know... that in space... you only get one spooooon. And some people, are spoon millionaires...
1. Go to space 2. Take spoons and become a spoon baron 3. ???? 4. Profit
The seekers do no need truth, the seekers do find truth and the finding do be painful
[Insert Garfield joke here.]
When I was a kid, I really wanted to be an astronaut. When I was told though that they had a 6 foot tall maximum height requirement, I was devastated. (I'm not sure if this is still true, I've later heard of 6'2" astronauts). Regardless, now I don't feel so bad, as they do not have pizza in space. How do they cope?
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
Funnily enough a friend and I were recently discussing the interesting geometric possibilities which would be possible when cooking in zero g, one of the recipies we came up with was the sperical pizza, where the dough gets inflated into a sphere (you need the air because the pizza dough would want to shrink) and the topping get layered around the outside, all of course being stick to the dough using the sticky marinara sauce.
This could then be cooked in an oven with the 'inflation pipe' blowing hot air into the middle to cook the dough, and also acting to keep the 'space pizza' in the middle of the oven.
The result, pizza with no crusts!
"Their T-shirts, socks and underwear have a special silver thread lining that absorbs odor and keeps items wearable longer." "Now this is made from a space-age fabric specially designed for Elvis. Sweat actually cleans this suit!"
So they have laundry that is special treated to go for weeks without being washed. Is it a bad sign that my first thought is "Man, if I had that, I wouldnt' have to do my own laundry so often! Where can I order some?!"
According to the article, "There is also no ice cream in space. No freezer." But besides freeze-dried ice cream, according to this blog, they actually did have frozen ice cream on the ISS.
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
A lot of the article isn't accurate, either. For example, they've had freeze dried "astronaut ice cream" for decades! Almost every science museum that I've ever been to sells this stuff. I've heard that they've also tried "space pizza" prototypes as well.
I also find it hard to believe that the standard battery on an iPod is going to suddenly going to turn into an explosive device if they take it into space. That sounds like more of a bureaucratic oversight than anything else.
I was in the room next to your last year, trust me, I didn't enjoy it a bit. And what were you screaming about anyways? There was no one in the room with you but it sounded like an orgy going on over there.
When I was posted in Antarctica for a year they gave us all a questionnaire about what foods we liked/disliked, to determine what to put in my food parcel. When I got over there I found they had packed all the foods I didn't like ! It's supposed to stop you scoffing all your food quickly. I was thinking of killing and eating penguin within a week.
Bastards.
I imagine space expeditions such as a manned Mars mission will use a similar methodology - fussy eaters beware when you fill in the form !
On earth, gravity striates your stomach contents so the heavier stuff is on the bottom and the gas is on the top. So when you burp it's mostly gas which comes up. In space, this doesn't happen, and burping is a lot like throwing up. So foods that make you burp, like carbonated beverages, are a no-no.
Actually I'm not sure they use spoons at all, anything you're allowed to eat that would be spoonable is sucked out of a sealed bag so it won't break up and jam equipment. I think you only get a knife and fork. And I'm pretty sure there's no crispy food, crumbs and all.
As the Endeavor approached the space station this week, crew members on board the station snapped this shot.
Saddle up: Riding with Robots
Well I think they are doing things wrong. They keep talking about travelling to Mars etc when what they should do is focus on building much better space stations. Once you have a space station with artificial "gravity", decent radiation shielding, and all the other good stuff so that astronauts can live on it for years without suffering so much like the russian astronauts, then you can talk about travelling. In fact people might then prefer to travel to the asteroid belt instead - get raw materials for building more space stations without having to spend lots of energy fighting a gravity well.
They might also want to try out tethered satellites. Instead of a full space elevator right from the start, try suspending the "comms/sensor" bits of the satellite closer to earth, with the counter weight at the other end (solar panels etc), so that the satellite is still in geostationary orbit, but you have much better comms latencies. I suspect some people are willing to pay a premium for lower latency sat comms. If they can't even do such satellites then I think trying for a space elevator is silly.
So what you're saying is..
There is no spoon.
The astronauts are issued one set of silverware per mission. It's not just a spoon. But because they cannot do dishes, they wipe them down with a disinfectant towlette at the end of each meal.
And since there is no money, as they approach the end of the mission whoever has squirreled away enough m&m's or tortillas has the most "bargaining power" to trade for whatever else is left.
John
John
They've caught fire here on Earth. I expect the effect of such a fire in space would range anywhere from serious to catastrophic.
More importantly, is there a severe penalty if you brought along a fake face-hugger from "Alien"?
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
My god, you quoted the article! Mods, quick! +5 Informative!
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
It's the space shuttle, so I'm assuming they use an adapter that fits into the in-dash eight track player.
Unknown host pong.
Ocean going ships are traveling in an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere at 1 G. All you need are sufficient provisions, and if you want a change in diet, throw a net or line over the side for some fish. Space ships are in Space (near vacuum, no gravity, nothing).
Grow up, future space cadets. Space travel is not Star Trek.