What are the interesting things about life in space?

Space is a magical world full of charm, and space life is a magical topic full of charm and curiosity.

The space environment is very different from the earth environment. There is no air, no gravity and dangerous space radiation. Of course, there is enough air for you to breathe in a closed space station or space shuttle cabin. Good spacecraft shielding materials can effectively block space radiation, but "weightlessness" will bring some troubles to life.

If you live in space in the way of the earth, you will definitely make a lot of big jokes. For example, when eating, you carry a bowl of rice, and the rice will float all over your cockpit. You may not be able to eat anything with your mouth open. When you keep your mouth shut, rice grains may float into your nostrils and choke you to death. You want to sleep comfortably in bed, but you will find that there is no upper and lower boundary in space, and there is almost no difference between "lying" and "standing" ...

So how do astronauts eat and sleep in space?

100 variety of space food

Astronauts' meals are varied, from the initial dozen to more than 100. Astronauts usually eat four meals a day, and the recipes are not repeated for a week. Some people think it must be boring for astronauts to make toothpaste out of their food. In fact, this is the case of early astronauts, and now it is not what it used to be. Astronauts can eat sausage pies, spicy grilled fish, roast beef with potatoes, buttered bread, lobster sauce broth, tuna salad, biscuits, chocolate, yogurt, preserved fruit, juice and other delicacies in space. American astronauts can even drink their favorite Coca-Cola. However, astronauts can't eat casually. They must eat according to the recipes prepared by the nutritionist on the ground. When the astronauts on the American space shuttle eat, they first take out the plastic bag marked "which day and which meal" from the food cabinet. There are seven kinds of food in each plastic bag for astronauts to eat. Space food is dehydrated food. Before eating, you can put the food in a bowl-shaped container, then inject a certain amount of water into the container with a syringe and heat it in the oven. A meal can be cooked in less than half an hour.

Unusual eating movements

The space dining table is specially made. It is magnetic and can absorb knives, forks, spoons, bowls, plates and other tableware. The table is equipped with a water cooler and a heater. When eating, astronauts must first fix their feet on the floor and their bodies on the seats to avoid fluttering. Don't worry about the food on the table. You must pay attention to the coordination of a series of actions such as serving bowls, meals, opening your mouth and chewing. Gently end the bowl, too hard, rice will float out of the bowl; It is necessary to be decisive in clamping rice and vegetables, to be accurate in clamping, and to clamp in clamping. It's best not to pull into the bowl, lest the food drift away. Forks are the best. After the food is caught, open your mouth and shut up quickly, because even the food put in your mouth will fly away if you don't shut up; When chewing, the rhythm should be slowed down. Chewing slowly is beneficial to digestion, and it can also reduce the generation and excretion of waste gas in the body and avoid the pollution of astronauts' living environment.

Some people like to chat while eating, and eating in space is the most taboo. Eating and talking will make the food scraps chewed in your mouth fly out of your mouth and float into the restaurant or living room. Astronauts are easily suffocated by their lungs if they accidentally inhale into the nasal cavity.

Special "Mrs. Wang fried mutton"

Although space food is rich in variety and nutrition, astronauts generally complain that eating in the sky is tasteless. Scientists have analyzed that the reason may not be the food itself, but the taste disorder caused by the space environment. For example, weightlessness makes the nasal cavity congested, which leads to the dullness of the taste nerve, and the change of saliva secretion affects the taste, or the taste is affected because the color of food cannot be seen or the smell of food cannot be smelled. When Wang Ganjun, a Chinese-American astronaut, took the space shuttle, his wife cooked his favorite fried mutton to give him a good appetite. This dish is called "Mrs. Wang fried mutton"

Confused and strange sleeping positions

It is indeed a "confused feeling" for astronauts to sleep in space. One of its manifestations is that it is black and white, and the other is that it sleeps strangely.

Black and white means that astronauts sail around the earth in the sky, and the sunrise and sunset in space depend on the time for the spacecraft to orbit the earth once. Sometimes sunrise and sunset alternate many times in 24 hours, so astronauts can't follow the life habit of "sunrise and sunset" on earth, so they have to arrange their work and sleep mechanically according to the hours.

Strange sleeping position means that astronauts can't find the feeling of "lying down" in the weightless environment of space. In the gravity environment of the earth, people are used to setting the direction of gravity as "down" and the direction of "sky" as "up", that is, people often say that "the foot steps on the earth and the blue sky is overhead". But in the weightless environment, people lose the reference coordinates of "up" and "down", their feet can't reach the ground, and the sky is all around them. You can't tell up from down at all, so there is no such thing as lying flat when sleeping. Because you can fall asleep standing, lying or lying on your stomach, astronauts can sleep in the space capsule, hang it on the wall, tie it to the bed, hang it on the beam and lean on the table.

But most astronauts are not used to drifting and sleeping. Once they wake up from a floating sleep, they will have a feeling of rolling in the deep. In order to gain a sense of security, astronauts usually sleep in fixed beds or sleeping bags fixed on the wall. After the sleeping bag is tightened, it can exert certain pressure on the human body, so that people can eliminate the sense of panic.

Never put your hands and feet out of the quilt.

Some people sleep with their hands or legs outside the quilt. This seems normal on the ground, but it is very dangerous in the space environment. Space weightlessness, people's limbs will swing from side to side without being dominated by the trunk during sleep. A former Soviet astronaut once put his arm out of his sleeping bag to sleep. When he woke up, he suddenly found two big hands floating on his face, which startled him. It turns out that these two fluttering big hands are his own. Shocked or trivial. If the uncontrolled "free" hands and "free" feet accidentally touch any switches or instruments after the astronauts fall asleep, wouldn't the safety of the space capsule and the life of the astronauts become a big problem? So when sleeping in space, be sure to put your hands and feet in your sleeping bag.

Strange brushing and washing your face

Because of the weightless environment in space, washing face, brushing teeth, shaving, haircut and washing are seemingly simple things on earth, which become very complicated and troublesome in space.

It is strange for astronauts to wash their faces and brush their teeth. In order to prevent water from floating everywhere, you usually wipe your face with a wet towel after washing. When brushing your teeth, rub your fingers in toothpaste for a few times, then clean your teeth with a wet towel, and you will finish brushing your teeth. If you brush your teeth like you are on the ground, toothpaste foam will fly around in the cockpit. Astronauts usually use electric shavers when shaving, and they must be very careful when using them. The space capsule is very small, so environmental protection is extremely important. If there are tiny stubble floating in the cockpit, it will be very difficult to clean it up.

It is not easy to get a haircut in space, so both male and female astronauts have to cut their hair shorter and shorter before going to heaven. But after a long flight, my hair will get longer. What should I do? Astronauts should carry forward the spirit of solidarity and mutual assistance, one with a haircut and the other with a vacuum cleaner.

"sauna room" and "bath bag"

Taking a bath in space is more troublesome. Astronauts should put their feet in a fixed ring, otherwise the floating body will keep rolling when it is washed by water. Water in weightlessness is small water droplets, which can easily choke people or even kill them. Therefore, astronauts should wear breathing masks and eye masks when taking a bath. After taking a shower, the sewage on your body will not automatically flow down, so you need to start the water pump and pump it away with the air. The water on the canvas cover must be drained. Take a bath, the real bath time is only 15 minutes, but it takes 45 minutes to clean up the sewage and other preparatory work.

Later, scientists made some improvements to the space bathroom. For example, the bathroom of Russian Mir space station is like a sauna. After the astronauts went in, they heated up for a while, making them all sweaty, and then scrubbed them with wet towels. Because it is inconvenient and uncomfortable, the "sauna room" has been changed into a device similar to a sleeping bag. When the astronauts take a bath, there is water and bath liquid in the bag. After washing, you can turn on the exhaust fan under the bag to pump away the dirty water. The bathroom on the American space shuttle is a shower hood with an exhaust fan under it. When astronauts take a bath, they turn on the shower faucet and exhaust fan, spray water on it and pump water down, which will form the same shower effect as the ground.

Special shampoo for space

The astronaut's shampoo is specially made. 96% of the ingredients in this shampoo are extracted from plants. Because there can't be a lot of water for astronauts to wash their hair in space, the shampoo used by astronauts is non-rinsing. In weightlessness, it will become very fine particles. When washing your hair, you can easily take away the dirt on your head. Wipe it with a napkin or towel after washing, and the shampoo will be completely removed. Hair washed with this space shampoo does not need hair gel, mousse and hair dryer at all, which can not only show the natural beauty of hair, but also be particularly easy to comb.

According to the latest report, Russian and American experts are preparing the latest toiletries for the astronauts of the two countries, but there are differences on the cosmetics of female astronauts. Russian experts believe that there is no need to dress up in space, while American experts believe that perfume, lotion and lipstick are indispensable. ("China National Defense News" September 27)