#astronaut

#astronaut

How Close has an Astronaut Come to Floating Off Into Space?One of the more dramatic yet unsatisfying deaths in space movies is the one in which an astronaut is performing an extravehicular activity (EVA) or space walk and becomes untethered from the ship. They drift away, knowing there's no possibility of rescue. The audience has to imagine what the rest of that astronaut's life would be like, and it's horrifying. It's never happened in real life, but the possibility is there. About 200 astronauts have performed EVAs, and a couple of times there have been close calls. In 1973, two Americans had a close call while working on the Skylab space station. And two cosmonauts doing an EVA outside the Salyut 6 space station in 1977 came close to disaster. Read these stories of a nightmare almost coming true at Real Clear Science.#astronaut #cosmonaut #EVA #closecall

Astrophotographer Took a Photo of the International Space Station So Detailed You Can See Spacewalking AstronautsFrom Germany to space, with love. Last Wednesday (March 23), astrophotographer Sebastian Voltmer captured a snapshot of spacewalk action from the ground. Using a Celestron 11-inch EdgeHD telescope on a GM2000 HPS mount and an ASI290 planetary camera to get the shot, Voltmer caught the image in the sky from Sankt Wendel, Germany. The picture was of NASA astronaut Raja Chari and the European Space Agency's Matthias Maurer who were performing a variety of maintenance tasks at the exterior of the International Space Station. Voltmer managed to capture the rare sighting shortly after sunset. Interestingly, Maurer’s hometown also happens to be Sankt Wendel, Germany, making the entire circumstance doubly amazing.Image: Sebastian Voltmer#InternationalSpaceStation #astrophotography #telescope #astronaut #NASA #spacewalk

Life in Space Can Destroy Our BloodThe human body normally destroys two million red blood cells every second in a process known as hemolysis. These cells are replaced by new red blood cells. But the process is accelerated in space, a phenomenon called "space anemia." In a microgravity environment, such as the International Space Station, the body's fluids shift and the blood loses about 10% of its water volume. To compensate, the astronaut's body will destroy 10% of its red blood cells to balance out cells and plasma. This has been known for decades, but it was assumed that with time, the rate of hemolysis would stabilize, and the blood would return to normal when the astronaut returned to earth. However, an experiment involving 14 astronauts who lived on the ISS for six months found that three million red blood cells were destroyed every second, 54% more than normal, for the entire time they were in orbit. Thirteen of the astronauts had blood drawn soon after landing, and five were diagnosed as clinically anemic. But the big news was that a year later, the astronauts rate of hemolysis was still 30% higher than normal! This finding could have huge implications for long stints in space, as in the months of travel necessary to reach Mars. Read about space anemia at Ars Technica.(Image credit: NASA) #astronaut #anemia #redbloodcell #spaceanemia

Russian Actor and Director Rocketed to the International Space Station to Film the First Movie in SpaceRussian actress Yulia Peresild and her director-cameraman, Klim Shipenko, and a veteran cosmonaut flew into orbit aboard the International Space Station to shoot the first film in space. Peresild, who wore a bright red flight suit, played the role of a surgeon on an emergency house call to the station in the film The Challenge."Everything was new to us today, every 30 seconds brought something entirely new, we just met the rest of the crew, the cosmonauts and astronauts who've been living onboard the station for some time now. But I'm still in a dream,” said Peresild.

Scientists Made Cosmic Concrete by Mixing Space Dust with Astronaut Blood, Sweat and TearsConstruction of a Martian colony can be pretty expensive with the transportation of a single brick costing more than a million British pounds. However, scientists at The University of Manchester have developed a way to potentially overcome this problem by using extraterrestrial dust and blood, sweat, and tears from astronauts to build concrete materials.In their study, protein from human blood mixed with urine, sweat or tears, could fuse a stimulated moon or Mars soil to produce a material stronger than regular concrete, that is suitable for extraterrestrial construction.In a Materials Today Bio article, scientists demonstrated that a common protein from blood plasma could be a binder for simulated moon or Mars dust to produce AstroCrete, a concrete material that has impressive strengths of 25 MPa (Megapascals) which is about the same as the 20-32 MPa seen in ordinary concrete. By adding urea, a biological waste found in urine, sweat and tears, scientists could further increase the strength by over 300% at 40 MPa which is significantly stronger than ordinary concrete.Scientists calculate that over 500 kg of AstroCrete could be produced over the course of a two year mission on Mars by six astronauts. If used as a mortar for sandbags or heat-fused regolith bricks, each member could produce enough AstroCrete to expand the housing for another crew member with each successive mission.#Mars #Masonry #Cosmic #OuterSpace #MartianColony #Construction #Astronaut #SpaceImage Credit:The University of Manchester

Lunar Spacesuits Won’t be Ready in Time for 2024 LandingNASA's Artemis program intends to sent humans back to the moon in 2024, but there may be a snag in the plans. NASA’s Office of Inspector General issued a report that mentioned the new spacesuits designed for walking around on the moon won't be ready in time. However, the space suits are not the only thing that may push back the mission. The report identified several factors for the delay, such as technical issues, funding shortfalls and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. While NASA has spent $420.1 million on new spacesuit designs since the Constellation program in 2007, and about $625 million more to complete development of the xEMU, funding for xEMU development in fiscal year 2021 was cut by 28% because of reduced funding for the lunar Gateway program, which hosts that work.Those factors wiped out the 12-month schedule reserve for xEMU development. NASA now estimates the first two xEMU suits needed for the Artemis 3 mission won’t be completed until November 2024 and, given time needed for final launch preparations, would not be ready for flight until at least April 2025, even if the lunar lander and other components of the mission are complete. “As of June 2021, NASA had no contingency plans if the suits are not ready,” the report stated.You have to wonder if Buzz Aldrin still has his lunar suit somewhere in the back of the closet. Read more on the report that may delay our return to the moon at Space News. -via Damn Interesting(Image credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky) #NASA #astronaut #spacesuit #xEMU #Artemis

Space Olympics: Astronauts on the ISS Just Held Their Own Olympic GamesWhy let all those gravity-bound athletes have all the fun at the Olympic Games?Astronauts at the International Space Station has just held their own "Space Olympics" with a weightless twist. There was the lack-of-floor routine gymnastic event, the No-handball where astronauts had to get a ping-pong ball through the hatch by blowing on it, synchronized space swimming, and weightless sharpshooting.European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet tweeted: "The first Space Olympics. 4 disciplines. 7 athletes. 2 teams, and a boost for crew cohesion."In Space Olympics, everybody wins!#Olympics #SpaceOlympics #InternationalSpaceStation #ISS #astronaut #weightless #sports

Apollo 15 Photos Remastered by Andy Saunders Show Glorious Pictures of Moon ExplorationLast week marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 15 mission. On July 29, 1971, astronaut David R. Scott, James B. Irwin and Alfred M. Worden entered lunar orbit. The next day, Scott and Irwin landed on the Moon and used the Lunar Excursion Module (lovingly called the Lunar Rover) to explore the area.Over at USA Today, 'Apollo Remastered' author Andy Saunders showcased enhanced images from the mission. Saunders had spent 10 years remastering NASA photographs and has gone through 35,000 images. Many of the old photos weren't shown to the public because of their poor quality. "But with digital enhancement, suddenly now we can see things that we couldn’t see before, and they’re amazing images," he said.In this Instagram image above, Saunders stitched together four Hasselblad 70mm film frames to create a magnificent panorama of the Apollo Lunar Module next to the tracks left by the rover.#NASA #Apollo15 #moon #MoonRover #LunarRover #moonlanding #spaceexploration #AndySaunders #astronaut

What Buzz Aldrin Saw on the MoonVisual effects artist Michael Ranger took the iconic photo taken of astronaut Buzz Aldrin by Neil Armstrong during the Apollo 11 mission and 'unwrapped' it to reveal what Aldrin would have seen through his space suit's helmet visor.Ranger (u/rg1213) took the famous photo of Aldrin below and zoomed in on his visor (which is basically like a curved mirror).

Help NASA Name the Artemis "Moonikin" Crash Test Dummy That'll Fly Around The MoonNASA is gearing up to fly a suited manikin or crash test dummy that'll fly aboard the Orion spacecraft as it travels around the Moon and back in the upcoming Artemis I mission.The "Moonikin" is equipped with various sensors to help NASA learn how to best protect human astronauts ahead of the planned manned mission:The manikin’s seat will be outfitted with two sensors – one under the headrest and another behind the seat – to record acceleration and vibration throughout the mission. The seats are positioned in a recumbent, or laid-back, position with elevated feet to help maintain blood flow to the head during ascent and entry. The position also reduces the chance of injury by allowing the head and feet to be held into position during launch and landing, and by distributing forces across the entire torso during high acceleration and deceleration periods, like splashdown.The crew is expected to experience 2.5 times the force of gravity during ascent and four times the force of gravity at two different points during the planned reentry profile. Engineers will compare Artemis I flight data with previous ground-based vibration tests with the same manikin, and human subjects, to correlate performance prior to Artemis II.