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What Drugs Do Astronauts Take?
astroengine writes "Science fiction is stuffed full of examples of pill-popping space explorers and aliens enjoying psychedelic highs. After all, space is big; it can get boring/scary/crazy up there. It's little wonder, then, that our current space explorers consume a cocktail of uppers, downers, tranquilizers and alcohol to get the job done. Robert Lamb on tranquilizers in the space station: 'Sure, it hardly makes for a civilized evening aboard ISS, but it beats someone blowing the hatch because they think they saw something crawling on one of the solar panels.'"
That ever useful tool. However would we have gone to the stars without it?
Yes, according to a 2007 report from the Associated Press, astronauts keep a few tranqs on hand in case anyone goes all suicidal or psychotic in space. NASA recommends binding the individual's wrists and ankles with duct tape (ever the space traveler's friend!), strapping them down with a bungee cord and, if necessary, sticking them with a tranquilizer.
Has any sci-fi show other than Firefly ever mentioned duct tape?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
It could always be worse.
Sorry, a bit tired. Twilight Zone.
You ever watch C beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate... on weed?
If I have seen further it is by stealing the Intellectual Property of giants.
. . . the bong is busted. First the bog, and now the bong . . . hopefully the crack pipe will keep going . . .
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I'm not sure what they take, but whatever they are, they are out of this world...
Oh wait, I just watched 2001 a few hours ago. And it was me that was on 'shrooms. What was the question again?
Name...That...Autocomplete!
Space cakes!
I haven't seen the movie yet. For a moment there you had me thinking I was in for an even weirder movie than I'm already expecting.
I hate printers.
Your mother's an astronaut.
I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that.
Please do try a diazepam or alprazolam Dave, they will surely calm you down.
If there's one thing I can do, man, is fly when I'm stoned
I remember reading this article nearly 3 years ago when it was first released.
Its only worth watching if you're a 14 year old girl.
Twilight ZONE episode "Nightmare_at_20,000_Feet" is what I meant.
...for all the secret space sex experiments the NASA conspiracy nuts think are going on, and because they need to keep their bat servicable when they casually let it slip that they're an astronaut in all the bars around KSC.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Orange flavor
Aldrin took communion on the moon? I had never heard that.
"Do they smoke grass out in space, Bowie? Or do they smoke astroturf?
Set your phasers on "funky"!
They are high on life of course! I would never question something that my government put together!
Monstar L
Ok, so every single comment is a joke. Congratulations. Not that I can add anything of substance to such a Mooney topic. Just wondering.
WTF is slashdot doing linking to an article from Fox News?
It's bad enough linking to UK stories from the Daily Mail, but Faux News is taking the piss.
.
I know this 'coz once, my grandfather, who built space ships with us in our sofa when we were kids, found a marijuana syringe on the moon.
Antiemetics (that is, anti-throw-up / anti-motion-sickness)
Not having gravity to "set things straight" can mess things up royally (in several ways)
how long until
wow the smoke patterns from weed would probably rather cool in zero G
Perhaps it's my limited understanding of the word "do" at fault. I can only think of it in the present tense, rather than the future conditionals attached to such as "might". This leads me to have all kinds of misunderstandings, like wondering why they're taking pills to counteract a dust (!) that nobody's been closer than 230,000 miles to in the last 40 years. Or why the articles blathers on about zombies and CIA truth serum when talking about a sleeping/motion sickness pill that's been OTC for longer than NASA has been chartered. Or why NASA is having them take a "cocktail" to "get the job done" which would, if the description is accurate, prevent the job from getting done if not kill them (alcohol + uppers + downers + tranqs? Anyone remember Karen Ann Quinlan?). Quoting details from the equally unqualified and/or wrong doesn't dilute the article's idiocy. The content could have made a perfectly good article. Too bad the writer felt unequal to the job of writing a real article as you'd expect in a science magazine.
This article should be in "Entertainment". Or, if we're to keep such trash under science, we should have some subclasses that apply, like 'bullshit', 'lies', and 'science? what's that?'. Or maybe we just need to change the "news for nerds, stuff that matters" to "stuff that might fit into the popular subjects here, and might be real, or not; we're not sure, we don't read it".
Is this the result of voting on suitability of submissions? If so, maybe we ought to look into having editors that actually know something about the area they cover and approve articles based on content rather than side effects. It appears that ironically 'games' is getting more serious treatment than 'science'. Part of the problem is the 'science' articles being written, such as TFA. But the fix for that is the same fix for including decent science articles.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
The Japanese module on the ISS, is actually the solar systems largest anti-gravity bong.
Astronauts really know how to party, man.
Whatever they use, it sure as hell gets them High!
Anyone got a light for my sig?
Spacecoke
Or if you're watching with rifftrax.
Ezekiel 23:20
Mynocks. Chewing on the power cables.
tee hee
Wrong article bro
So I'm assuming that the belief that "the right stuff" is a mixture of courage, determination, and good old all-american grit, rather than a delightful assortment of "better living through chemistry" options is just one of those lies we tell to children...
Caffeine?
Spock.....there's.....a man.....on.....the wing!
Wtf?? Was the author on "a cocktail of uppers, downers, tranquilizers and alcohol" to get the article done :-O?
Notable characteristics: self-proclaimed "super-genius", endless amount of cynicism, amphetamine addiction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Thaddeus_Venture
The movie theater is going to be full of 14 yo's ? SCORE !
More like:
"Spock.....there's.....a man....on.....the wing!
If you want to do Shatner right, you've got to include both the unnecessary pauses and the emphasis on the wrong words.
That was a great old Twilight Zone episode, though.
This ain't rocket surgery.
, but he and NASA kept it quiet to prevent a repeat of the Apollo 8 controversy, where NASA was sued by an atheist group over the reading of Genesis from lunar orbit on Xmas eve, 1968.
Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
Why not some spice?
I can't think of that many, not enough to back up this claim.
Yes it
Now I'm wondering how weed burns in a shuttle with no gravity and whether or not I can milk my roor like I can on earth...
This would also be good for people who live in cities and near highways. Diesel, even the low sulfur varieties spews a lot of particulates. Not to mention the tiny bits of rubber tire you inhale regulary.
It seems the mods have found these mystical marijuana syringes and are using them quite liberally.
No one gets higher than astronauts.
Property is theft.
Shrooms!
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.