Space is wonderful, we were told. But living in space is difficult. Unlike, for example, Moscow, space is not designed for human life and work. If we rule out radiation poisoning and direct exposure to temperatures close to absolute zero, as well as the lack of air, the very absence of gravity poses a serious threat to the bags of fluid we call bodies. From sudden urination to a persistent runny nose, space brings many unforgettable challenges to our bodies. Let's go over the strangest and most painful side effects that anyone who wants to become an astronaut needs to know about.
Sudden urination
On Earth, your bladder notifies you that it's time. As it fills, pressure builds up at the bottom of the bladder, and when it is two-thirds full, you already begin to feel a certain need. In space, you won't feel it because of zero gravity. It is only when the bladder reaches its maximum fullness that you begin to feel something. But by this time you … already.
Consider the example of astronaut John Glenn. In 1962, he drew 0.8 liters of urine from himself during his - and the nation's - first orbital flight, without prior warning. Fortunately, he had a cuff on, allowing him to urinate without hands. (Great idea, by the way, for long road trips and cinemas).
NASA deemed this innovation necessary after Glenn's predecessor, Alan Shepard, had to sit on the launch pad for five hours before a fifteen-minute flight into space. Shepard had no choice but to pee into his suit; in the process, he short-circuited the heart rate monitor. Currently, astronauts on the International Space Station are equipped with a high-tech solution: adult diapers that can absorb urine and convert it into drinking water at a later date. Like this.
Bloating and gas
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When the stomach breaks down food, it produces gas. This is how belching is born. On Earth, this air rises in a completely natural way. In space, gases remain trapped in the stomach. Any attempt to regurgitate can lead to vomiting. ISS astronaut James Newman figured out that a small jump would help to burp. His push-and-burp strategy involves pushing off a wall so that gas moves in one direction (out through the esophagus) and fluids in the stomach in the other.
The problem with capturing gas is one of the reasons why astronauts do not take carbonated drinks into space, mineral water or beer with them.
Sweat balls
The body's natural ability to absorb calcium into bones does not work in microgravity. In space, we lose bone density ten times faster than with osteoporosis. Muscles also atrophy, because you rarely use them - any action can be carried out with the slightest push. For these reasons, astronauts are forced to train for several hours a day. At the same time, sweat scatters everywhere. If you train hard enough, sweat clots you up. He swims with you all day, much to the displeasure of fellow astronauts, and does not come off. It needs to be removed. Then collect. Why? It is a valuable source of water that can be recycled into water.
Flooded eyes
Like sweat, tears roll into balls in space. They do not run down your cheeks in beautiful drops. No, they cover their eyes so that they cannot see anything. ISS astronaut Andrew Feistel faced this problem in 2011 during a seven-hour spacewalk. The anti-fogging solution got into his eyes and they began to water, they could not be wiped from the inside of the suit. His walking partner Mike Finke could only say "I'm sorry, dude." Therefore, Feistel had to scratch his eyes with a device that is used to protect the nose while adjusting the pressure. It was hardly pleasant, but it helped.
Mucosal problems
On Earth, your mucous membrane is drained by gravity. When you make phlegm, it will drain through the nasopharynx. It happens all day long, you just don't know about it. In the absence of gravity, snot builds up and you develop symptoms of a mild cold - headache, stuffy nose, tastelessness and odor from food. The only way to fix this is to sneeze. Many times. But this can damage the mucous membrane and generally not the most pleasant action. Therefore, most astronauts prefer a tasty working mechanism: hot sauce and other spicy foods. And although the sinuses will not break through from this, the astronauts will again feel the taste of food.
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Disorientation
The sense of "up" and "down" relies on your sense of gravity, which in turn rests on two small organs in each inner ear. The utricle and saccule sacs use sensitive hairs in the membrane layer. When we roll over, the membrane shifts, and with it the hairs, which indicates a change in balance.
In zero gravity, there is no reason for the membrane to shift, so the system works through a stump-deck. There is a feeling of disorientation that you don't get used to right away. And until you get used to it, there will be "space sickness". Nausea, headaches, vomiting, discomfort.
This is technically known as the syndrome of space adaptation, but informally it is measured on the so-called "Garn scale". It was created in honor of the former American astronaut Edwin Garn. He served on a shuttle mission in 1985, but had a hard time adapting to space. On their return to Earth, other astronauts jokingly developed the Garn scale to determine how badly an astronaut suffers from space sickness. Garn experienced the disease in "one garn" - the maximum degree of space sickness. Garn suffered from all of the above problems, but swears that he never vomited.
Dancing lights
Back in the days of Apollo 11, in 1969, astronauts reported seeing bright flashes in the dark - even with their eyes closed. Astronaut Don Pettit, who was also on the ISS, said he sees "bright dancing lights," often while falling asleep.
These lights are still a mystery, but one thing we do know is that when we see an object on Earth, the light from the object hits the photoreceptors at the back of our eye. Photoreceptors signal to our brain what is happening, and it can put everything in its place. But in space, high-energy cosmic rays are born outside the solar system, and they are everywhere; NASA scientists suspect that the phenomenon of dancing lights is caused by these cosmic rays passing directly through the pupil and entering the photoreceptors, but the process is not fully understood. For many years, NASA did not believe in this phenomenon at all, they said that astronauts all lie.
The blood rushes to the head
Microgravity disrupts the blood flow in the body. Without being attracted to the ground, blood floats freely in the upper body. Best of all - in the head. During the first few days in space, the blood vessels in the head adapt and begin to struggle with so much blood flowing into the upper body. Then the swelling practically disappears and a slight swelling remains until the return to Earth.
Exhaustion
The International Space Station orbits the Earth every 90 minutes, which means that the person on board experiences 16 sunrises and sunsets every 24 hours. These rapid transitions from light to dark disrupt the body's circadian rhythms, which are usually maintained at regular intervals of light, and literally turn off the body's desire to sleep. On average, astronauts sleep two hours less per day than on Earth. From this they become angry, irritable, exhausted, the reaction time is shortened and the concentration of attention decreases. We have to take countermeasures. NASA is fighting the problem of sleep with alarms.
Phantom limbs
Try this experiment: Don't look at your hand. You do not see it, but you feel it, you know where it is in relation to the body. Even this knowledge depends on gravity. Your proprioceptive system is a series of sensors in your muscles, tendons, and joints. The stress that your joints constantly experience due to the normal action of gravity informs this system and tells the brain about the location of the limbs. Without these stresses in microgravity, it's easy to lose the feeling of your own hands and feet. Many Apollo astronauts often woke up from someone poking their hands in their faces, and then realized that it was their own hand. Creepy.
ILYA KHEL