Many people who have a legal drinking age like to enjoy alcoholic drinks from time to time, whether it is to celebrate a special event or relax after a long day at work. But if a long day at work involves being an astronaut at an international space station … forbidden alcohol.
From a practical perspective, it makes sense. The space agency each world does not want their highly trained employees to bend and disrupt vital space experiments or damage millions of dollars. Let’s be honest; No one wants a drunk astronaut at the top of the $ 150 billion spaceship station that skyrocketed through a space of more than 17,000 MPH.
Not that the prohibition of liquor has stopped the astronauts from slipping into space and enjoying cosmic cocktails. In fact, in the 1980s, the Russian Space Agency was included in Cognac in the Cosmonaut ration because the doctor said it helped stimulate the immune system. However, as soon as they dropped the sickles and hammers on liquor, the cosmonauts found ways to smuggle them into holes in holes and the wrong juice bottle labeled. Some even on an accident diet to match the bottles in their space.
Nasa is much tighter, but not always like that. This allows Buzz Aldrin to drink Communion wine during the first man’s collective trip to the month in 1969. Charles Bourland, former Director of Nasa Space Food Program, said he tried to get Sherry on the menu for Skylab space station in the 1970s. In the end, it did not make pieces because of public reactions, and the rules of “no alcohol” were enforced.
While NASA has since banned alcohol, in the 2019 book “Alcohol in Space” by Chris Careberry, Astronaut Clayton Anderson revealed that “Nasa will tell you that there is no alcohol on ISS. As a person living there for five months, I “I’ll tell you it’s fake.”
Both beer and whiskey has been sent into space to see what the effects of zero gravity on the process of making beer and aging. Carbon dioxide bubbles (aka “carbonated”) cannot rise to the top of the liquid, so on the contrary, they remain randomly spread throughout the beer, which produces foamy chaos. Lack of gravity slows down the aging process in the whiskey, making it feel like smoked fish, rubber, smoke that is paired, and other unpleasant things (through male journals).
Another interesting fact about the mismatch of beer in space is also found. Because there is no gravity in space, carbonated liquid does not settle in the lower part of the stomach, and the gas remains above, so the astronaut makes “wet and wet.” According to NASA Spokesman William Jeffs, this is why all carbonated drinks are excluded from the space menu (via New Scientist).
Off-gassing is and not exactly as you think
In addition to clear security issues, there are several excellent scientific reasons that alcohol is not permitted. Ethanol, the main ingredient in alcohol, is considered as a “volatile compound” which can cause damage to fine equipment (such as water recovery systems) found in the strict limits of ISS or other space.
Any product that contains alcohol, both in perfume, aftershave, or mouthwash, also cannot enter space. In addition, astronauts can only wear clothes made of cotton 100%. Cans under pressure (eg, shaving cream or hair spray) and mobile video games are also prohibited, all because of something called “off-gassing.”
According to NASA, many daily things are familiar, ordinary, either emitting aroma or emitting gas that does not smell. We don’t pay much attention to it on earth because if there is something smelly, we can easily open a window to emit a dangerous odor. Guess what you can’t do on ISS or rocket boat? Appropriate. In the room … no one can break the window. Long -term exposure to radon and carbon monoxide can cause severe health problems. Without the ability to remove trapped gas and carry fresh air, the climate in the ISS is regulated and strictly maintained.
