This Thread About Facts About Peeing And Pooping In Space Is Even More Entertaining Than It Sounds
Although the first woman flew into space in 1963 (who, by the way, was from the USSR), it wasn’t until twenty years later that female astronauts became common. In an attempt to figure out the reasons behind it, author Mary Robinette Kowal recently published an essay called “To Make It to the Moon, Women Have to Escape Earth’s Gender Bias.” Some people, however, immediately opposed the comprehensive text, claiming that NASA didn’t send women into orbit because it lacked the technology to deal with their bodily functions. In response, Kowal posted a crash course on peeing and pooping in zero gravity, and it perfectly explains why their theory simply doesn’t work. Grab a spacesuit, folks, this one’s going to be one hell of a ride!
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Image credits: wikipedia / NASA
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Image credits: NASA
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Mary’s own fascination with space began when she sat up to watch Apollo 11 land on the moon. “Granted, I was six months old and don’t actually remember it, but it’s one of the stories my parents always tell and I think stitched space into my identity from my early childhood,” she told Bored Panda. “My conscious memories are of the shuttle program and how close the future of spaceflight seemed to be.”
However, the author said it took her a while to realize that women hadn’t had a big part of it. “I remember the fanfare involved in Sally Ride’s first flight but did not fully understand that women had been actively excluded from the early space program. To me, she was the first because space exploration was still fairly new. I was wrong, of course. But it gave me the luxury of growing up believing that women could do anything and were welcome in every field. As an adult, looking at the history of the early program, and the opportunities that were denied to women, based solely on gender, I get ranty.”
After reading the thread, some people wanted to know more
Image credits: Joernroeschen
So Kowal pleased their curiosity
Image credits: MaryRobinette
Image credits: MaryRobinette
Image credits: MaryRobinette
Kowal believes that gender isn’t a big factor in determining whether or not someone’s going to be a good astronaut. “Being an astronaut is about curiosity, expertise, excellence and taking joy in the exploration of space. That said, there are some physiological differences that might make women better suited for space travel. During the Mercury program, Dr. Lovelace did a series of studies with women in which he ran them through the same tests as the Mercury astronauts. A higher ratio of women passed the tests than men. They tolerated higher g-forces, did better on stress testing and were more cardiovascularly fit than the men. In modern parlance, these are the Mercury 13, although at the time they called themselves the First Lady Astronaut Trainees.”
“Women use fewer calories and consume less oxygen than men.” she continued. “We typically weigh less. All of which are important considerations when trying to get someone out of the gravity well and into space.”
Others contributed as well
Image credits: annewellpepper
Image credits: NRekai
According to the author, NASA does need more women, but they’re on the right track, having been actively recruiting them. “When you look at the last several classes of astronauts, they have had or been close to gender parity. The years of all-male selections mean that it’s going to take years before we have equal numbers going to into space.”
“It’s the 21st century. But seriously, I think it’s been having people like Dr. Ellen Ochoa, who recently retired as the director of Johnson Space Center, driving an initiative to have a more inclusive program,” Kowal said. “Having women in the program means that they can point out the problems caused by unconscious gender bias, which, in turn, opens the door for the next generation of women.”
To conclude, Kowal urged to take things into perspective. “Look… we’re talking about women in space but there have only been 14 Black people in space. There are centuries of mistakes and damage and there’s no need to replicate that in space. The only way we fix it though is by consciously examining the choices people made in the past and striving to do better.”
People found the entire thread very interesting
It pisses of me off tht NASA didn't think this through. The solutions were 's****y' at best. Did they have a brain fart at that time? I'll see myself out.
The american space program in the 60s was incredibly rushed, they went from not having the technology to reach orbit to sending a man to the moon in a less than 10 years, they had to release Wernher von Braun from house arrest just to have working rockets (he was a nazi scientist and an SS). Then, when they won the space race against the russians they immediately cutted the funds to NASA, so yes, more than a few corners were cut.
Load More Replies...You'd think that the lack of atmosphere is a big problem but the lack of gravity it's no small problem. Everyones talks about the moon base like it's sci-fi but once we build it, it will be the ideal human habitat compared to the ISS, people working there will be able to poop and shower normally, even 1/6 Gs are a bless.
There will never be a Planet B for mankind. Is it not immensely more important that we stop treating our planet as c**p than to learn how to s**t in space? We send robotic vehicles to Mars and continue to poison the air we breathe. Somehow this does not make sense. At all.
Solutions to surviving g on a moon or Mars base will, like most space research be usable to solve problems here on earth. Just like NASA recently discovered a novel way oxygen gets generated from co2 on an asteroid they were observing.
Load More Replies...If they’d had a mother working on this issue, it would have been solved in two seconds. Because diapers are a thing. Human poop containment technology was sufficiently advanced. It’s amazing no one thought of that. Wear a coat of Desitin to prevent diaper rash, slap on a 1960’s cloth diaper, top it off with plastic underpants and you’re good to go.
As Billy Bragg sang, "... hanging around like a fart in a Russian space station... "
If space vehicles going to the Moon or there-around develop so much stench in a few days, imagine when they will go to Mars? The astronauts will suffocate before they get there... How is it in the ISS, where astronauts spend months? Does it stink as much or do they finally succeed to master the problem?
As a woman who knows where every bathroom is from San Diego to Seattle I think that if a woman had been there in the beginning of planning all that would have been solved before they left earth.
She's a racist. She said that on her site: So, here are some ways in which I have discovered that I am racist. It shames me. On tour in New Orleans, I came out of the hotel in the morning and a black man approached me. I didn’t hear what he said, but assumed he was looking for a handout, so I politely said I couldn’t help him. He was another guest at the hotel and had asked if I could pull my van up to his car. He needed a jumpstart. Had he been white, I wouldn’t have made that assumption and was horrifed that my brain had just gone, “click, black man = homeless.”
I always wanted to travel to a Space station. I have changed my mind!
Weird that someone went through all this time to make up what would happen if space was real and we actually went into it
So, launching pee into space has been deemed acceptable? What about contamination issues? Of course, it is not far from earth, but I always thought that space missions were planned in a way that minimizes the potential for spreading cells, bacteria and so on. Astronaut pee being sucked into the vacuum of space does not really seem appropriate. Also, cue the potential new origin story regarding how life evolved on earth. :/
The sparkling is pretty scenic, boys will be boys, on the earth it is a commitment men of all ages, political view, sexual orientation and religious belief, proudly show how helicopter works, mostly out of the shower expecially if there is some audience, in space engineers kept the tradition alive offering a sparkling show
It pisses of me off tht NASA didn't think this through. The solutions were 's****y' at best. Did they have a brain fart at that time? I'll see myself out.
The american space program in the 60s was incredibly rushed, they went from not having the technology to reach orbit to sending a man to the moon in a less than 10 years, they had to release Wernher von Braun from house arrest just to have working rockets (he was a nazi scientist and an SS). Then, when they won the space race against the russians they immediately cutted the funds to NASA, so yes, more than a few corners were cut.
Load More Replies...You'd think that the lack of atmosphere is a big problem but the lack of gravity it's no small problem. Everyones talks about the moon base like it's sci-fi but once we build it, it will be the ideal human habitat compared to the ISS, people working there will be able to poop and shower normally, even 1/6 Gs are a bless.
There will never be a Planet B for mankind. Is it not immensely more important that we stop treating our planet as c**p than to learn how to s**t in space? We send robotic vehicles to Mars and continue to poison the air we breathe. Somehow this does not make sense. At all.
Solutions to surviving g on a moon or Mars base will, like most space research be usable to solve problems here on earth. Just like NASA recently discovered a novel way oxygen gets generated from co2 on an asteroid they were observing.
Load More Replies...If they’d had a mother working on this issue, it would have been solved in two seconds. Because diapers are a thing. Human poop containment technology was sufficiently advanced. It’s amazing no one thought of that. Wear a coat of Desitin to prevent diaper rash, slap on a 1960’s cloth diaper, top it off with plastic underpants and you’re good to go.
As Billy Bragg sang, "... hanging around like a fart in a Russian space station... "
If space vehicles going to the Moon or there-around develop so much stench in a few days, imagine when they will go to Mars? The astronauts will suffocate before they get there... How is it in the ISS, where astronauts spend months? Does it stink as much or do they finally succeed to master the problem?
As a woman who knows where every bathroom is from San Diego to Seattle I think that if a woman had been there in the beginning of planning all that would have been solved before they left earth.
She's a racist. She said that on her site: So, here are some ways in which I have discovered that I am racist. It shames me. On tour in New Orleans, I came out of the hotel in the morning and a black man approached me. I didn’t hear what he said, but assumed he was looking for a handout, so I politely said I couldn’t help him. He was another guest at the hotel and had asked if I could pull my van up to his car. He needed a jumpstart. Had he been white, I wouldn’t have made that assumption and was horrifed that my brain had just gone, “click, black man = homeless.”
I always wanted to travel to a Space station. I have changed my mind!
Weird that someone went through all this time to make up what would happen if space was real and we actually went into it
So, launching pee into space has been deemed acceptable? What about contamination issues? Of course, it is not far from earth, but I always thought that space missions were planned in a way that minimizes the potential for spreading cells, bacteria and so on. Astronaut pee being sucked into the vacuum of space does not really seem appropriate. Also, cue the potential new origin story regarding how life evolved on earth. :/
The sparkling is pretty scenic, boys will be boys, on the earth it is a commitment men of all ages, political view, sexual orientation and religious belief, proudly show how helicopter works, mostly out of the shower expecially if there is some audience, in space engineers kept the tradition alive offering a sparkling show
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