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Would they scrub a launch if e.g. one if the crew members had diarrhea, or is it limited to technical reasons and weather?

Aaargh20318 2y ago
Asking the important questions.
dylan604 2y ago
That's a different type of valve
HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
Aren't they quarantined before going up? To limit the possible germs they might bring up with them?
- adastra22 2y ago
  Nothing is guaranteed.
kjkjadksj 2y ago
This makes me wonder if they engineer for diarrhea in space or puking all over the controls perhaps. It seems not all unlikely to happen.
- dmoy 2y ago
  There's a quora answer over here from an astronaut who had diarrhea in space: https://www.quora.com/Has-an-astronaut-ever-had-diarrhea-while-on-the-ISS https://www.quora.com/Has-an-astronaut-ever-had-diarrhea-whi... Unfortunately it looks like most of the answer is behind a paywall, because it sounds like a good read lol.
  - atommclain 2y ago
    Here ya go! =========== Why yes an astronaut has had diarrhea while on the ISS. And it was me! Getting diarrhea in outer space was certainly not on my bucket list. It was, however, a normal… and qualified “pain in the rear (see what I did there?!).” It was early in my 5-month stay aboard the International Space Station. Not sure what brought it on —guessing food— my symptoms began to occur as I was sleeping in the U. S. Lab module. Waking sometime around 2 a.m. Greenwich time (the time zone used for our daily schedules), I knew what was coming. And it was coming fast! I sailed down to the Russian Service Module —the only toilet on the station back in 2007— and entered the tiny enclosed area short of panic, but with very high anxiety. After quietly closing the sliding door, I fired up the Russian-designed toilet. I was actually grateful for the late hour, as I was hoping this would ensure that my two Russian crewmates (Oleg and Fyodor) would remain asleep… leaving me to my own devices. Ultimately, I would be successful in my crisis-laden endeavor. After using two of the toilet system’s plastic bags (for collecting the fecal matter), and only one rubber glove, my symptoms subsided for a time. This allowed me the opportunity to quietly clean everything up, power-down the system, and fly back to the U. S. segment. It was there that I quickly broke open the American medical kit. Concealed beneath the module’s floor, under a large “door” adorned with the easily recognizable red cross symbol, I used its table of contents to locate the medication I so desperately needed. Immodium AD was —thank God— available for my use, and I followed the dosage recommendation to the letter. I would never have diarrhea again… in space anyway! Keep lookin’ up!
throwup238 2y ago
Probably not, they’d sub in a standby if the launch window allowed for the time to do it. There’s a prelaunch diet plan but it’s hard to find information on it because the space diet gets all the attention. It’s not too exciting though, it’s mostly just a subset of whatever each astronaut considers comfort food with extra attention to nutrition and food safety. The Apollo 11 astronauts had steak and eggs for breakfast before the launch.
- wannacboatmovie 2y ago
  That's very interesting! My first reaction is one of disbelief because steak and eggs could send someone with IBS running for the loo, but a trip to space likely entails altered energy needs, and a high energy meal loaded with protein would certainly make sense.
  - throwup238 2y ago
    As I understand it, any chronic conditions that would impact an astronaut's ability to do their job would disqualify them. There's just too much at stake and too much competition for the spot. IBS isn't explicitly listed as a disqualifier like diabetes or heart disease but I doubt it would fly with NASA, especially since it tends to get worse under stress.
  - squiffsquiff 2y ago
    It's more about there being 'low residue '. See https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/sr-71-stories-written-by-blackbird-pilots.80489/ https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/sr-71-stories-written-by...
belter 2y ago
Apollo 8....Frank Borman got vomiting and diarrhea hours into the flight...Alien movie was nothing compared to it...
TrainedMonkey 2y ago
Depending on the severity - before launch probably, after the launch it's a risk call and they would probably adopt wait and see if it gets better approach. The reason for scrub would not be the diarrhea, but rather not knowing the reason why. Astronauts are placed in isolation / fed high quality and low diarrhea risk food. This mitigates most of normal reasons of why it could happen, so getting proceeding with the mission without understanding what is going on is risky.

Aaargh20318 2y ago

Asking the important questions.

dylan604 2y ago

That's a different type of valve

HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago

Aren't they quarantined before going up? To limit the possible germs they might bring up with them?

adastra22 2y ago
Nothing is guaranteed.

kjkjadksj 2y ago

This makes me wonder if they engineer for diarrhea in space or puking all over the controls perhaps. It seems not all unlikely to happen.

dmoy 2y ago
There's a quora answer over here from an astronaut who had diarrhea in space: https://www.quora.com/Has-an-astronaut-ever-had-diarrhea-while-on-the-ISS https://www.quora.com/Has-an-astronaut-ever-had-diarrhea-whi... Unfortunately it looks like most of the answer is behind a paywall, because it sounds like a good read lol.
- atommclain 2y ago
  Here ya go! =========== Why yes an astronaut has had diarrhea while on the ISS. And it was me! Getting diarrhea in outer space was certainly not on my bucket list. It was, however, a normal… and qualified “pain in the rear (see what I did there?!).” It was early in my 5-month stay aboard the International Space Station. Not sure what brought it on —guessing food— my symptoms began to occur as I was sleeping in the U. S. Lab module. Waking sometime around 2 a.m. Greenwich time (the time zone used for our daily schedules), I knew what was coming. And it was coming fast! I sailed down to the Russian Service Module —the only toilet on the station back in 2007— and entered the tiny enclosed area short of panic, but with very high anxiety. After quietly closing the sliding door, I fired up the Russian-designed toilet. I was actually grateful for the late hour, as I was hoping this would ensure that my two Russian crewmates (Oleg and Fyodor) would remain asleep… leaving me to my own devices. Ultimately, I would be successful in my crisis-laden endeavor. After using two of the toilet system’s plastic bags (for collecting the fecal matter), and only one rubber glove, my symptoms subsided for a time. This allowed me the opportunity to quietly clean everything up, power-down the system, and fly back to the U. S. segment. It was there that I quickly broke open the American medical kit. Concealed beneath the module’s floor, under a large “door” adorned with the easily recognizable red cross symbol, I used its table of contents to locate the medication I so desperately needed. Immodium AD was —thank God— available for my use, and I followed the dosage recommendation to the letter. I would never have diarrhea again… in space anyway! Keep lookin’ up!

throwup238 2y ago

Probably not, they’d sub in a standby if the launch window allowed for the time to do it. There’s a prelaunch diet plan but it’s hard to find information on it because the space diet gets all the attention. It’s not too exciting though, it’s mostly just a subset of whatever each astronaut considers comfort food with extra attention to nutrition and food safety. The Apollo 11 astronauts had steak and eggs for breakfast before the launch.

wannacboatmovie 2y ago
That's very interesting! My first reaction is one of disbelief because steak and eggs could send someone with IBS running for the loo, but a trip to space likely entails altered energy needs, and a high energy meal loaded with protein would certainly make sense.
- throwup238 2y ago
  As I understand it, any chronic conditions that would impact an astronaut's ability to do their job would disqualify them. There's just too much at stake and too much competition for the spot. IBS isn't explicitly listed as a disqualifier like diabetes or heart disease but I doubt it would fly with NASA, especially since it tends to get worse under stress.
- squiffsquiff 2y ago
  It's more about there being 'low residue '. See https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/sr-71-stories-written-by-blackbird-pilots.80489/ https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/sr-71-stories-written-by...

belter 2y ago

Apollo 8....Frank Borman got vomiting and diarrhea hours into the flight...Alien movie was nothing compared to it...

TrainedMonkey 2y ago

Depending on the severity - before launch probably, after the launch it's a risk call and they would probably adopt wait and see if it gets better approach. The reason for scrub would not be the diarrhea, but rather not knowing the reason why. Astronauts are placed in isolation / fed high quality and low diarrhea risk food. This mitigates most of normal reasons of why it could happen, so getting proceeding with the mission without understanding what is going on is risky.