3 ms·
I always wonder, if you spend a length of time in space, you must get used to being able to leave an object in mid air, go do something, and go back and pick it
by sksksk 14y ago
I always wonder, if you spend a length of time in space, you must get used to being able to leave an object in mid air, go do something, and go back and pick it up later.
When astronauts come back to earth, do they have some adjusting period where they keep dropping items on the floor because they forget about gravity?
- NegativeK 14y agoEvery time I watch one of those videos, I imagine how annoying it must be to not be able to release something with zero drift. If I'm ever allowed to be a space tourist, I suspect I'd spend hours just trying to get something to stop drifting relative to the cabin. And then play with water.
- mitchty 14y agoMy first reaction was similar. I started thinking of all the things in life that would be easier to just go, hmm I'll stick this tool here in mid air, space, whatever, and this can go here, etc... But alas, I'll likely never get to experience it.
- dredmorbius 14y agoI recall one astronaut addressing this. He'd been on several Shuttle / ISS missions. After his first return to Earth, he was sleeping and, as I recall, his son had climbed into bed with the astronaut and his wife. The astronaut tried to reposition his son by simply pushing him away and releasing him, which didn't work so well. After multiple trips, his adaptation to zero-g / full-g became much more automatic. Similar, animals used in zero-g experiments seem to adapt to multiple trips. A female mouse learned how to scoot her infants in zero-g. One article touching on some of this (though I'm remembering another): http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/adapting-to-earth-after-120-days-in-space/ http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/adapting-to-eart...