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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.
Aldrin took communion on the moon? I had never heard that.
Mynocks. Chewing on the power cables.
Kind of like how we tell our kids that all drugs are always unconditionally bad, unless they're handed out by mommy and daddy? This story is an interesting nexus of two things people lie to their kids about. If NASA were so full of American grit, they wouldn't have a problem getting Congress to get funding for (a return trip to the moon|an expedition to Mars|a space elevator).
There is almost always more to the truth than what we tell our kids, because of our own moral hangups and personal inadequacies. This is why, once they become teenagers and get their first trickled-down distorted taste of what the real world is actually going to be like, they rebel and hate you. It's the least they owe to the people who have lied to them their entire lives.
Drugs are like cars, or power tools, or guns. They're incredibly useful tools, but if you don't respect them they'll kill you.
And you should never mix them with cars, or power tools, or guns.
Unless you're an astronaut.
--Obyron
this actually makes me want to design a gravity independent water pipe specifically for space to ... um. ...determine the absorption and release of a variety of chemicals and their effect on human consciousness in space. perhaps we'll call it the Puff Independent Gravity Smoke System or PIGSS in Space.
No, you weren't shrooming. That's the actual movie.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?