8 awful things on the ISS
A Life / / January 06, 2021
Space travel is associated with romance, heroism and vivid adventure. But in reality, this is hard work associated with risk to life, health problems and a bunch of everyday difficulties.
1. It smells bad in space
People who have been in space describe its smell in different ways, but no one calls it pleasant. They saySpace Smells Funny, Astronauts Say, Ever wondered what space smells like? Fried steak and hot metal say scientiststhat ISS smells like "fried steak" and "hot metal". Astronaut Thomas Jones claims that space has a "distinct smell of ozone, faint and pungent," with a gunpowder and sulfur.
Chemist Steve Pearce reproducedWhat Space Smells Like in 2008 for the art installation Impossible Smells, the aroma of the Mir space station, and NASA recognized the result is very close to the truth - it was a mixture of amber sweaty feet and stale body, nail polish remover and gasoline.
Astronaut Scott Kelly saysAstronaut Scott Kelly Explains How the ISS Is Like Harris County Jail
that the ISS smells like garbage, antiseptic and unwashed body, like the Harris County jail he once visited (not as a prisoner).
And another astronaut, Don Pettit, mentionedDon Pettit Is About to Become Your New Favorite Astronaut, The Smell of Spacethat he could smell the notes of welding gases.
Other areas of space may smell better. There's a possibilityGalaxy's center tastes of raspberries and smells of rum, say astronomersthat gas and dust clouds around newborn stars, for example Sagittarius B2, are fragrant with raspberries and rum due to ethyl formate in their composition. But we are unlikely to be able to smell them: they are unimaginably far away, hover in a vacuum and, moreover, are poisonous.
2. Drinking water is obtained from processed urine and sweat
Since it is too expensive to constantly launch cargo ships with drinking water on the ISS and there is nowhere to get liquids in space, astronauts have to drink recycledAstronauts Drink Recycled Urine, and Celebrate, US astronauts drink recycled urine aboard space station but Russians refuse, Do Astronauts Drink their Pee?, A New Efficient Filter Helps Astronauts Drink Their Own Urine water. It is made from the urine and sweat of the station's crew and tastes the same as usual. water, so it's enough just not to think about where it came from.
For a year in space, one person drinksYear in Space Crew Will Drink 730 Liters of Recycled Urine and Sweat 730 liters of recycled sweat and urine.
The ISS water recycling system costs about $ 250 million and works on the principle of electrolysis. It is interesting that Russian cosmonauts do not like to drink such liquid and prefer the one made from the condensate of exhaled air.
They only wash with water from urineWhat kind of water do astronauts drink?. But they kindly provideWhy American astronauts drink Russian urine their urine for processing for the American segment, when neighbors do not have enough of their own.
Women on the ISS have a particularly difficult time, because menstrual the recirculation system cannot process blood. Astronauts have toMedically induced amenorrhea in female astronauts, How Do Women Deal With Having a Period… in Space? use drugs to suppress menstruation, and this may not be very good for your health.
3. Particles of human skin float in the air of the ISS
When the keratinized flakes of your skin flake off, they simply fall to the ground under the influence of gravity and mix with the dust. But in space, under microgravity conditions, particles of someone's dead epidermis are constantly plying around the station.
According toThe Disgusting Side of Space: What Happens to Dead Skin in Microgravity, ISS Science Garage astronauts Mike Massimino and Don Pettit, especially when someone changes clothes, it’s especially unpleasant. You shoot sock, and a cloud of dead skin, the so-called detritus, spreads in the air. The ISS is definitely not a place for squeamish people.
Scott Kelly admitted during the Q&A session on RedditI am Astronaut Scott Kelly, currently spending a year in space. AMA!that during the first months on the ISS all the calluses and the legs become smooth and pink like a baby's.
Scott Kelly, astronautAfter living in space for several months, remove your socks carefully.This is the absolute grossest thing about living in spaceotherwise a stream of dead skin flakes will enter the interior. And you will quickly become the least popular member of the crew.
4. You can change clothes on the ISS every 4 days
According to memoriesAstronauts' Dirty Laundry, Space wear Don Pettit, the ISS stocks of linen are not designed to be changed often, so this has to be done once every 3-4 days.
A crew of six producesThere’s No Laundry in Space, So NASA is Trying to Make Clothes That Don’t Get Smelly approximately 900 pounds (or 400 kilograms) of worn clothing.
And since water on the ISS is in short supply, the astronauts do not wash their clothes. At all. Clothes are worn as long as they can, and when they feel uncomfortable in them, they are loaded into a non-returnable capsule of the Progress spacecraft, undocked from the ISS and de-orbited. In the end, these things burn up in the atmosphere.
5. Washing on board is not available
At the Mir and Skylab stations, the cosmonauts had a shower. And although it was impossible to use it often, it somehow made the hard life in orbit easier. On the ISS shower decided not to suit.
So the crew does not bathe there, but only wipes itself offHow to Shower in Space wet wipes and liquid soap. The remaining soap is washed off with a small amount of water, which is worth its weight in gold here. Use a special shampoo for hairHow to take a shower in space, How Do You Wash Your Hair in Space?, How to Shower in Spacethat does not require rinsing.
Considering that astronauts regularly exercise a couple of hours a day to prevent muscle wasting and sweat profusely10 Disgusting Ways Your Body Betrays You In Space, the inability to wash normally is a serious problem. However, people get used to this too.
6. Astronauts have a stuffy nose all the time.
How do astronauts tolerate all of the above for many months while their watch lasts? Perhaps it becomes easier for them due to the fact that they almost always have aSpace is bad for you. On the consequences of flying to the stars, Fortitude: My Year in Space, 10 Disgusting Ways Your Body Betrays You In Space nose. The fact is that on Earth fluid from the mucous membrane drains from the nasal cavity into the pharynx and is swallowed imperceptibly. But in microgravity, it stays in the nose.
Gene Hunter and Michelle Perchonok, in charge of NASA's food science program, noticedWhy Astronauts Crave Tabasco Saucethat astronauts are especially fond of highly spicy, sour or sweet foods, such as Tabasco sauce. This is because the taste of ordinary food with a stuffy nose is not very distinct.
7. Crying in space hurts
Perhaps the above facts have ruined your childhood dream about space and you are ready to burst into tears. But astronauts are deprived of such luxury: it is not that they should not cry, but undesirable. In microgravityWhy You Can't Cry in Space tears do not flow from the eyes, but remain there, causing severe pain and interfering with seeing.
As saidIs it true that astronauts cannot cry in space? shuttle pilot Ron Paris, when tears in space are big enough, they can still fly out of your eyes. Then they just float around you. So, if you can't help crying at all, try, on the contrary, crying more intensely.
8. ISS is full of different bacteria
It is believed that space laboratories should be very clean. After all, astronauts go through quarantine before going on a flight. But in reality, the International Space Station is full of bacteria. Research has revealedA microbial survey of the International Space Station (ISS), The International Space Station is super germythat there are more than 4 200 species of them. This exceeds the concentration in planeswhich you usually fly on vacation. And sterility on the ISS is simply impossible to maintain.
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