There are a lot of things American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts have in common — not the least being a certain nonchalance about where and when they urinate. Alan Shepard, the first American in space, famously relieved himself inside his silver pressure suit while waiting out the countdown in his tiny Mercury capsule — a far better solution than canceling the launch and pulling him out just because no one had thought he’d need the loo during a 15-minute suborbital mission, and his spacesuit thus had no collection bag built in
Tag Archives: astronauts
NASA to launch world’s largest rocket
NASA is set to launch the world’s largest rocket Tuesday, conducting research to help return astronauts to the moon.
The 10-year-old who helped Apollo 11, 40 years later
On July 23, 1969, as Apollo 11 hurtled back towards Earth, there was a problem — a problem only a kid could solve. It sounds like something out of a movie, but that’s what it came down to as Apollo 11 sped back towards Earth after landing on the moon in 1969
What Do Astronauts Eat in Space?
You have a degree in astrophysics and you know how to fly a jet. You’ve endured years of preparation and training, logged thousands of hours of flight time and even survived NASA’s terrifying “vomit comet” weightlessness test. Now you’re up in space for the very first time, floating around the shuttle’s cabin, and as you look out of the window, you realize something: you’re hungry.