An Astronaut Reveals What Life in Space Is Really Like

[madokie]

There’s no way to anticipate the emotional impact of leaving your home planet. You look down at Earth and realize: You’re not on it. It’s breathtaking. It’s surreal. It’s a “we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto” kind of feeling. But I’ve spent a total of 55 days in space, over the course of five missions for NASA, and I’ve learned that being out there isn’t just a series of breathtaking moments. It’s a mix of the transcendently magical and the deeply prosaic. It can be crowded, noisy, and occasionally uncomfortable. Space travel—at least the way we do it today—isn’t glamorous. But you can’t beat the view!

Everyone imagines that when you’re sitting on the launchpad atop 7 million pounds of explosive rocket fuel, you’re nervous and worried; but the truth is, there isn’t much to do for those two hours after you climb into the shuttle. Many astronauts just take a nap. You’re strapped in like a sack of potatoes while the system goes through thousands of prelaunch checks. Occasionally you have to wake up and say “Roger” or “Loud and clear.” But the launch itself is a whole other thing—from the pad to orbit in 8.5 minutes, accelerating the entire time until you reach the orbital velocity of 17,500 mph. That is a ride.

It turns out that once you’re actually in orbit, zero-g has some upsides. Without gravity, bodily fluids move toward your head. It’s a great face-lift. Your stomach gets flat. You feel long, because you grow an inch or two. (I thought, “Oh cool, I’ll be tall,” but of course everybody else was taller too.)

But zero-g also has some disadvantages. As that fluid shifts north, you get an enormous headache. Your body compensates and loses about a liter of fluid in the first couple of days—you essentially pee the headache away. And a lot of people get nauseated. The way to feel better is to “lose up,” to convince your visual system that “up” is wherever you point your head and “down” is where your feet are. When you can do that, and go headfirst or earlobe-first wherever you want, then you’re getting adapted to zero-g. On each flight this adaptation happens more quickly—your body remembers having been in space. But it can take a few days before your stomach finally settles down and says, “OK, what’s for lunch?”

http://www.wired.com/2014/11/marsha-ivins/

I'd like to try this out for myself sometime. Saying that fully aware that that will never happen

[pinboy3niner]

1. Hell, at our age do you really think they'd take us?

But the psychology is interesting. There's probably a lot more there that he didn't have room to get into.

[ColesCountyDem]

2. Even at my age, I'd kneecap someone's grandmother for a chance to go into space.

[pinboy3niner]

3. With a resume like that, how could they turn you down?

[skydive forever]

4. I worked on the shuttle program for 25 years

and met a lot of astronauts. And every single one that I met were just awesome people. They were all super smart but not one of them ever acted like they were any better than any of us lowly technicians. Great group of people.

[loudsue]

5. I've never understood the desire to leave our lovely planet, even briefly.

And the claustrophobia is a deal breaker from the first. Some of us are just earth-anchored...I'm one of those. I love it here!

[bearssoapbox]

6. I don't like caves.

The idea of being underground. ugh!

I don't like planes and have only been in a couple that I didn't eventually have to jump out of, but given a chance to go to space???

STRAP ME IN!!!

Won't ever happen because of age and health but wouldn't that be fun?

And I'd probably need a separate booster too.

[Codeine]

8. Same here. I'd ride in the damned cargo hold if I had to. nt

[malaise]

7. That's amazing

What an experience. I'll have to read others take on this one