Space Wonders: In spite of the marvel and the excitement, life in space is the continuous lesson in restraint. Astronauts have to work under zero gravity, without breathable air, and abnormal physics, which leaves them with no choice but to adjust in manners that are alien to Earth life.
10 things you simply cannot do in space
And these are 10 things you simply cannot do in space, no matter how much you consider this a necessity:
- You Can Not Cry Normally
There is no crying. They collect around your eyes as there is no gravity to make them drop down the face. It can also be explained as having a bubble of water in your eye by the astronauts.
- You Can Not Make Use of the Toilet As You Do on Earth
Space toilets work on suction and not gravitational force. Astronauts are locked up, and wastes are (pulled away) into different tanks by fans. Pee and poop do not mix.
- You Can Not Eat Food Well
The fluids move in space towards your head, which leads to a blocked nose. This dulls your taste adding no flavor to the food. This is the reason why astronauts enjoy spicy condiments.
- You Cannot even Take a Shower
Having a conventional shower in space is impossible. Astro-wipes, no-rinse wash and wet cloths, similar to camping hygiene but weightless.
- One can not sleep sideways
Up and down do not exist and astronaut sleep in inflatable sleeping bags strapped to walls. It does not require any pillows.
- You Can Not Light a Candle or a Camp-Fire
The behaviour of fire in microgravity is unusual and blue, spherical flames occur rather than tall flickers. Open fires are prohibited because of danger of fire.
- Without risk you can not Burp
There is also the incidence of a wet burp or in other words throwing up when burping in space due to the stomach contents which fail to settle down. Astronauts need to be cautious after a meal.
- You Can Not Run or Walk Free
Forget jogging. The absence of gravity makes your feet float in the air, therefore, astronauts employ a treadmill equipped with a harness in order to perform foot impact. Moving turns to floating.
- You Can Not Wash Clothes
Washing clothes would consume a lot of water. Astronauts can recycle the garments they wear, then they discard the used clothes into space or burn it up on their re-entry into the atmosphere.
- Body Odour Can Not Be Gotten Rid Of So Easily
Smells remain, and air gets filtered. And in the absence of air blowing odours out, it would be easy to become funky in modules. Air scrubkers and good hygiene are necessary.
Other than radiation poisoning and exposure to the -454.8 degrees temperatures as well as the lack of air, zero-gravity is one of the greatest threats that the fluid-sacks we entertain to be our bodies face. Space is not a pleasure cruise with abrupt urination to dams of sinus-filling mucus. These are the strangest, and the most uncomfortable, side effects to put into consideration before your trip.
Sudden Peeing
Here on planet earth, your bladder informs you of when to go. The pressure on the bottom rises and it is when they are nearly full (two thirds) that you get that embarrassing urge. Due to zero G you do not feel that in space. People might begin to feel it when you are at max capacity. By that time you are already going.
Take the case of Astronaut John Glenn. During his, and the country, initial orbital voyage in 1962 he peed 27 ounces of urine without any warning prior. Fortunately he had this roll-on cuff with a bag which enabled him to pee without using his hands. It is an excellent idea (we believe), to use on long road journeys, or at movie houses).
NASA felt that this innovation was necessary since his predecessor Glenn Alan had to spend five hours at the launch pad before his fifteen minutes stint in space. Shepard was forced to urinate in his suit; he fried his heart rate monitor in doing this. In the modern days, astronauts in the international space station are well equipped with a high technological solution; adult diapers, those which have the capacity to absorb the urine and later reprocess them to drinking water. Yum.
Gaseous Bloat
When the stomach digests foodstuffs, it releases gas. (That is why you burp). Naturally here on earth that air rises. Gases are confined in the stomach in the space. Vomiting can come as a consequence of any effort to burp. James Newman, ISS astronaut has discovered that a slight nudge is all that is needed when it comes to guiding the project of vomit-proof belch. His push and burp technique involves pushing away at a wall causing the gas to shoot in one direction (out the esophagus) and the stomach fluid in the other.
This is not one of the reasons why NASA does not permit the consumption of carbonate drinks like Soda or Beer in space, which is a problematic gas-trap. Consider it: There is nothing worse than a drunk astronaut; a drunk astronaut who continually vomits is an even worse thing.
Sweat Balls
The automatic process of reabsorption of the calcium in bones fails to operate in zero G. In space therefore, we lose bone density at a ten-fold rate of osteoporosis. Muscles also weaken as you do not use them that much: a small push will help you to reach any point.
To this end, you should spend a couple of hours exercising daily because of the two reasons. But then there is the sweat, which just does not go away.
When you exercise intensively you are covered in blots of perspiration. You might saunter around in a state like that all day, to the dismay of your fellow astronauts and the perspiration will never run. You have to dry it with the towel.
And then you have to get it. Why? It is a good source of water that can be reclaimed as a drinking water. We assume that Douglas Adams knew what he was talking about when he referred to tower as the most massively use-full thing in space.
Flooded Eyes
Tears will roll up in the air, as the way of sweat. They do not melt down your cheeks cinematographically. They instead blind your eyes to the point you see nothing. Astronaut Andrew Feustel of ISS had this issue in the year 2011 during a space walk that lasted seven hours. His anti-fogging solution of his helmet stuck in his eye and he began to cry and he was not able to wipe it out inside his suit.
His fellow spacewalker, Mike Fincke could say nothing more than a sympathetic, Sorry buddy. Feustel was, therefore, obliged to scratch his eye on a device to cover the nose in case of adjustment of pressures. We suppose it was not such very pleasant work. but it did clear the solution and the tears out of his eye. According to other tearful astronauts, it hurts a lot due to the salt concentration.
Mucus Blockage
The gravity on earth wears your sinuses. In the process of producing mucus, you drain it through the nose and throat. Yes, this is what it is doing all day, you only do not realize it. Now think of un-learning that!). The gluey stuff accumulates in zero G: you get the symptoms of a mild cold: headache, stuffy nose, reduced sense of smell and taste. One relief is to blow. A lot.
That may irritate the mucous membranes and it can be quite a nuisance on top of it. Hence, the next most common coping mechanism used by the majority of astronauts is the hot sauce and other spicy foods. Although it does not treat the sinuses, they at least get the taste of their food back.
Disorientation
The sense, and the idea, of being up and down is dependent on our sense of gravity which is dependent on two tiny organs in each of our inner ears. Sensory hairs of utricle and saccule are applied in a membrane layer. When we tilt over, then the membrane moves, and the hairs bend, telling us that there is a change in balance.
There is no need to shift the membrane in the conditions of the weightlessness thus, the apparatus becomes slightly insane. This is totally disorienting until you acquaint yourself with the idea. And till that you will feel space-sick. Disabling pain, nausea and headaches as well as additional vomiting.
Technically, it is also referred to as Space Adaptation Syndrome and this is informally rated in what is referred to as the Garn Scale. It is named after the ex-U.S Senator and former U.S astronaut Edwin Garn. He was also a payload specialist congressional observer in a shuttle mission of 1985 and also a specimen on which fellow astronauts carried out medical experiments on the motion sickness.
Luckily people in his crew, Garn did not react well to space. When he returned to Earth other astronauts came up with the so-called Garn Scale, an inconsequential scale, jokingly to describe to what extent an astronaut is hindered by space sickness. Garn had had one Garn, which as an astronaut trainer Robert E. Stevenson once stated, is the most that any individual could ever achieve regarding space sickness.
Garn experienced all of the above named ailments-even though he claims never to have vomited.
Fairy Lights
Since as early as the Apollo 11, in 1969, astronauts have been known to see brilliant flashes of light in the dark, and with their eyes shut. However, Don Pettit, a shuttle astronaut who has lived on the ISS as well said it resembled the sight of dancing fairies in the night. He used to see them frequently as he fell asleep.
The lights remain a bit of a mystery but here is what we know: Whenever we look at a thing here on earth, rays of light are sent by the thing on the photoreceptors which are at the back of the eye. The photoreceptors alert our brain on the events that occurred in order that it starts forming a picture.
In space, high-energy cosmic rays below the solar system are all around; NASA scientists believe the cause of fairy lights on the sky is when the cosmic rays enter the body freely entering the eyelid and striking the photoreceptors, but they do not know exactly the case. Truth be told, NASA did not even believe that it was a real phenomenon until the past couple of decades and forced the astronauts to believe that they saw it in their imaginations, another reason why they did not want beer in space.
Bloody Brains
Zero G will interrupt the blood circulation of the body. Pulled down no longer towards feet, the blood can move upwards, towards the upper torso. The head is also a friendly repository. Within the initial days of time in space blood vessels in the head and neck bloat; you will have a puffy face appearance. The space men refer to it as Moon face.
The adaptation of the circulatory system to ensure that excess volume of blood does not travel to an upper body takes approximately four days. When the above is reached the swell (largely) disappears, a mild puffiness is left until the astronaut is back on the Earth.
Exhaustion
With an orbit time of 90 minutes around the earth, any person lucky to be in the international space station will witness 16 sunrises and sunsets in a space of 24 hours. Such swift alternations of lights and darkness disrupt the normal mechanism of the rhythms in the body that the body usually controls through light exposures on regular basis and creates a short-circuit in the capacity of sleeping.
Bed time is reduced by 2 hours a night in average compared to on ground. When left alone this leaves them in a constant jet lag, which may result in fatigue, rise in irritability and decrease in concentration and reaction time. And mindless astronaut is a mindless astronaut. NASA addresses the sleep issue through continuous manipulation on the time of the alarms among the astronauts to make sure they are well rested.
Phantom Limb
To test this, do the following: Do not look at your arm. You cannot see it, but you feel its whereabouts as compared to your own organism. Even that consciousness is based on gravity. Your proprioception system refers to a set of sensors in your tendons, muscles, and joints.
The tensions in your joints that are generated by the constant pull of gravity shapes that system and then communicates that information to your brain as to where your limbs are. In zero G without those stresses, and with parts of the body floating disarmingly into weird positions, it is, in fact, easy to lose track of your own arms and legs.
Scores of Apollo astronauts and many others since then have awake startled to find a hand in their face, only to find it belongs to them. Spooky.
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