Why Astronauts Are Banned From Getting Drunk in Space (bbc.com)

Bryan Lufkin, writing for BBC: "Alcohol is not permitted onboard the International Space Station for consumption," says Daniel G Huot, spokesperson for Nasa's Johnson Space Center. "Use of alcohol and other volatile compounds are controlled on ISS due to impacts their compounds can have on the station's water recovery system." For this reason, astronauts on the space station are not even provided with products that contain alcohol, like mouthwash, perfume, or aftershave. Spilling beer during some drunken orbital hijinks could also risk damaging equipment. [...] There could be another reason to avoid frothy drinks like beer -- without the assistance of gravity, liquid and gases can tumble around in an astronaut's stomach, causing them to produce rather soggy burps.

Comments

Artificial Gravity

[djinn6]

Spilling beer during some drunken orbital hijinks could also risk damaging equipment ... without the assistance of gravity, liquid and gases can tumble around in an astronaut's stomach, causing them to produce rather soggy burps.

Isn't it about time they started doing the whole artificial gravity thing? From what I've read, it can be done cheaply with a long tether and a counter weight at the other end.

A lot of special considerations are necessary for space living. Think showers, where you not only need a pump for the water, you also need one sucking the water down the drain. Sleeping? You need straps to keep you in place. Using a laptop? You need external fans to cycle hot air away from it. Even your body starts deteriorating because it's not exercising as much, and you need to devote many hours to physical fitness just to stay healthy. Zero G living is just to foreign to us.

The USA hasn't recovered from prohibition.

[Gonoff]

The attitudes towards alcohol in the USA are quite bizarre to most of the rest of the planet but we didn't have prohibition.

When I went to the USA with the British Army, I found that although I was old enough to be an ally with a rifle, I was not old enough to have a beer at 20! I was old enough to go in harms way but not old enough for Budweiser! Your troop transport aircraft was supposed to be dry. I have heard that your naval vessels are dry.

I have heard that your prohibition was brought about by a, misnamed, temperance movement. Certainly, there are some people who can only be teetotal or drunk. In most cases, this is a matter of education. The best way is to demystify it. I remember at college, you could tell the students who had never been allowed even a glass of shandy. They were the ones who propped up bars every night. They "didn't do morning lectures"! Your country is treating you the same...