Astronauts! Those people capable of enclosing themselves into tiny spaces and then being thrown thousands and thousands of miles from their home into outer space. Have you ever dreamed of this? If so, you should practice walking underwater and showering without a shower. These are some of the strange things that you have to go through in order to live in space. Nutty Scientists have a special appreciation for astronauts and we admire them for the bravery they show each time they climb into a rocket.

10 Strange Things about Astronauts and Space

  1. Space stations are in constant motion around the earth, so astronauts experience 15 dawns and dusks every day.
  2. In the space ships, granulated foods like salt, pepper or sugar are not allowed, so they serve them as a liquid
  3. Astronauts cannot cry since tears would never fall due to the lack of a gravity effect.
  4. They cannot hear themselves scream since sound waves cannot travel through the void of space
  5. Due to no gravity, the vertebrae of their spines separate and their spines expand.   Therefore, an astronaut can grow between two and five centimetres in space. Once they return to the earth, it does not take long to return to their previous original height.
  6. To urinate is unique. On short trips, astronauts use diapers called MAG and for longer trips, the ships have bathrooms that operate at zero gravity sucking all floating debris in the ship.
  7. To clean themselves, astronauts use a soapy damp cloth because all the water consumed on the ship is carried from earth so they have to ration it.
  8. The first living being to orbit the earth was a dog named Laika, sent by the Soviets in 1957.
  9. The first female astronaut in history was Valentina Tereshkova, who was chosen from 400 candidates. She boarded the Vostok 6 on June 16th 1973 and she completed 48 orbits around the earth during her three-day mission in space.
  10. The best way to train on earth for space walks is underwater due to the weightlessness feeling caused by floating.

At Nutty Scientists, we have different laboratories and scientific shows in which children can learn about space and astronauts in a different way through fun experiments and demonstrations. Some of these sessions include Space Mission, Journey to Planets and much more.