Results tagged “astronauts” from 60 Second Science

Well, this is striking news: Space, apparently, has a peculiar scent all its own, according to a nose that would know — an astronaut on the International Space Station. I know, I know — huh? But International Space Station science officer Don Pettit swears that space bears a distinctive if somewhat ephemeral odor, a "pleasant sweet metallic sensation," like "sweet smelling welding fumes." Um, maybe I should just let him describe it in full:

Few people have experienced traveling into space. Even fewer have experienced the smell of space. Now this sounds strange, that a vacuum could have a smell and that a human being could live to smell that smell. It seems about as improbable as listening to sounds in space, yet space has a definite smell. Being creatures of an atmosphere, we can only smell space indirectly. Sort of like the way a pit viper smells by waving its tongue in the air and then pressing it to the roof of its mouth where sensors process the molecules that have been adsorbed onto the waggling appendage.

I had the pleasure of operating the airlock for two of my crewmates while they went on several space walks. Each time, when I repressed the airlock, opened the hatch and welcomed two tired workers inside, a peculiar odor tickled my olfactory senses. At first I couldn't quite place it. It must have come from the air ducts that re-pressed the compartment. Then I noticed that this smell was on their suit, helmet, gloves, and tools. It was more pronounced on fabrics than on metal or plastic surfaces.

Continue reading 'Space has a smell; astronaut swears 'it wasn't me'' >

Living on the International Space Station kinda sucks. The food mostly blows, the bus is always late and you have to hear the Japanese guys go on and on about their paper airplane projects. But every now and then, you get to see something in person no one else will ever see, and it's all worth it. Check out these images of auroras taken by ISS crew members during a mild geothermal storm over Newfoundland:

Although the auroras appear to be located below the ISS, they occur at the same altitude, and sometimes the space station passes through them. More solar streams are expected soon, so astronauts can expect a few more pretty, sleepless nights.

One more pic after the jump.

Continue reading 'Geomagnetic storm as seen from International Space Station gives good image' >

The gourmands at Discover enlisted Chicago Tribune food and wine critic Bill Daley to apply his silver palate to astronaut food in a bold effort to learn just what it's like to eat up in space. He encounters loads of freeze-dried crapola, to be sure, but a few meals actually left Daley positive impressions, including the aforementioned thermostabilized cranapple cobbler:

Fortunately, an all-American dessert came to the rescue. The thermostabilized cranapple cobbler was a homey thing, sort of like chunky pie filling looking for a crust. Roughly mashed apples were tossed with some cranberries, lots of sliced almonds, and cinnamon. It was ugly, but for once I wasn’t left feeling cheated about the portion size. The almonds really made the dessert by giving it some crunch, although the spicing needed more complexity and the apples could have been sturdier.

Other standouts included the shrimp cocktail (an astronaut fave) and the "lush but tangy" mango-orange drink. NASA's tea with lemon and sugar also won a few kudos from the man with the golden taste buds. Powdered tea with lemon and sugar also "tasted of home," but the rest of the offerings suffered by comparison.

Continue reading ''I'll have the thermostabilized cranapple cobbler, please': How bad is Astronaut food?' >

Okay, not really. But don't let that stop you from believing and recirculating this. This week's Anti-Scientist covers the strange life of an internet hoax so hilarious that it simply will not stop breaching the canons of (reportedly) scientific fact.

On April 4, 2000, Calmann-Lévy Publishers released a book on the Mir Space Station by Pierre Kohler, author of popular French-language astronomy books. He states there that through a video-taped experiment conducted in orbit, NASA determined which sexual positions were possible without "mechanical assistance" in zero gravity.

Kohler's source? "The internet."

Continue reading 'NASA Films Zero-Gravity Sex' >

Everyone digs retro stuff. I haven't changed my pants for decades — yeah, they smell, but you just can't find acid-washed bellbottoms like these anymore. NASA is basically doing the same thing with their new Orion rocket missions, which will see the return of Apollo-style rockets and space capsules used to complete missions to the International Space Station and eventually the moon.

Rockets came back into fashion at NASA because they are safer and better-designed than the aging, disaster-prone shuttle fleet, and they have better long-range capability than shuttles. Still, it's more than just a matter of pulling the old Gemini out of the closet and Febrezing away that musty Gus Grissom smell:

"We could have already built up an early lunar outpost, or smaller ones at different places of interest," says NASA's administrator Michael Griffin. "Most of the next 15 years will be spent recreating capabilities we once had, and discarded."

Continue reading 'NASA goes retro for Orion rocket missions; astronauts forced to wear Chuck Taylor All-Stars onboard' >