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Accidents in Space
Over the past half-century, no human activity has pushed the limits of technology further than space exploration. Tragically, when technology is being pushed this hard, accidents are bound to occur. But how do space agencies sustain their astronauts and keep them safe in the most inhospitable environment known to mankind?
More than 100 people have died trying to increase our knowledge of what lies beyond this planet. Accidents in Space tells the tragic stories behind the missions that went wrong. But scores of successful missions have taken place, too. Many more are being planned. How do space agencies sustain their astronauts and keep them safe in the most inhospitable environment known to mankind?
High table
Space nosh has come a long way since the early days of manned space flight, when astronauts had to eat liquidised food by squeezing it from an aluminium tube. Today's space menus include items like sealed packs of bread rolls or tortillas, as well as fresh fruit and easy-to-eat vegetables such as carrot and celery sticks. Main courses are often dehydrated casseroles that astronauts add water to and then heat. Dieticians begin planning an astronaut's meals around nine months before blast-off, balancing nutritional requirements with enough variety to prevent the crewmember becoming bored or dispirited.
Suited and booted
A spacesuit (or Extravehicular Mobility Unit, as it's officially called) is an astronaut's best friend in space. Of course, there's no breathable atmosphere outside the spacecraft but that's not an astronaut's only worry. Temperature extremes are potentially lethal, too. The side of a spacesuit facing the sun has to withstand temperatures of up to 150 degrees Centigrade. The other side, facing deep space, can be subjected to temperatures of minus 120 degrees Centigrade. A spacesuit has fourteen layers of material to protect the astronaut from tiny meteorites and to help regulate internal temperature and humidity. The latest suits also have a jetpack astronauts can use to fly back to safety if they accidentally become untethered from the spacecraft. Another modern refinement is designed to appeal to astronauts doing fiddly work in space - fingertip heaters.
Walking the walk
Before astronauts can take a single step into space, they have to undergo a complex preparation routine. The pressure inside a spacesuit is significantly lower than the cabin pressure of a spacecraft. This makes spacewalkers susceptible to decompression sickness or "the bends". Decompression sickness occurs when nitrogen bubbles form in body tissue. So, for two hours and twenty minutes before a spacewalk, astronauts perform vigorous exercise and breathe pure oxygen to flush excess nitrogen from their bodies. During this drill, the pressure in the airlock is carefully reduced as the astronauts don their spacesuits.
Pulling together
It's lonely out in space but at least you have your mates with you. Your fellow crewmembers are your most precious resource and NASA goes to enormous lengths to pick astronauts who work well with each other. Even so, conflicts and misunderstandings can arise in the claustrophobic atmosphere of a space vessel. To help astronauts hone their interpersonal skills, NASA is developing a computer program that simulates stressful situations. Actors play the parts of stroppy or sloppy fellow crewmembers and the astronaut running the program has to choose how to react. The final outcome can depend on as many as 65 decision points.
She cannae take it, Captain!
Well, not yet, at least. But the matter-antimatter engines of the Starship Enterprise do have some basis in fact. The possibility that antimatter might actually exist was first revealed in 1928. Since then, tiny amounts of antimatter particles, identical to matter particles except with a reversed electrical charge, have been produced. Some scientists believe that an engine harnessing the pure energy produced when matter and antimatter particles collide could one day allow us to travel far beyond our solar system.
Find out more
NASA website
BBC: Space
High table
Space nosh has come a long way since the early days of manned space flight, when astronauts had to eat liquidised food by squeezing it from an aluminium tube. Today's space menus include items like sealed packs of bread rolls or tortillas, as well as fresh fruit and easy-to-eat vegetables such as carrot and celery sticks. Main courses are often dehydrated casseroles that astronauts add water to and then heat. Dieticians begin planning an astronaut's meals around nine months before blast-off, balancing nutritional requirements with enough variety to prevent the crewmember becoming bored or dispirited.
Suited and booted
A spacesuit (or Extravehicular Mobility Unit, as it's officially called) is an astronaut's best friend in space. Of course, there's no breathable atmosphere outside the spacecraft but that's not an astronaut's only worry. Temperature extremes are potentially lethal, too. The side of a spacesuit facing the sun has to withstand temperatures of up to 150 degrees Centigrade. The other side, facing deep space, can be subjected to temperatures of minus 120 degrees Centigrade. A spacesuit has fourteen layers of material to protect the astronaut from tiny meteorites and to help regulate internal temperature and humidity. The latest suits also have a jetpack astronauts can use to fly back to safety if they accidentally become untethered from the spacecraft. Another modern refinement is designed to appeal to astronauts doing fiddly work in space - fingertip heaters.
Walking the walk
Before astronauts can take a single step into space, they have to undergo a complex preparation routine. The pressure inside a spacesuit is significantly lower than the cabin pressure of a spacecraft. This makes spacewalkers susceptible to decompression sickness or "the bends". Decompression sickness occurs when nitrogen bubbles form in body tissue. So, for two hours and twenty minutes before a spacewalk, astronauts perform vigorous exercise and breathe pure oxygen to flush excess nitrogen from their bodies. During this drill, the pressure in the airlock is carefully reduced as the astronauts don their spacesuits.
Pulling together
It's lonely out in space but at least you have your mates with you. Your fellow crewmembers are your most precious resource and NASA goes to enormous lengths to pick astronauts who work well with each other. Even so, conflicts and misunderstandings can arise in the claustrophobic atmosphere of a space vessel. To help astronauts hone their interpersonal skills, NASA is developing a computer program that simulates stressful situations. Actors play the parts of stroppy or sloppy fellow crewmembers and the astronaut running the program has to choose how to react. The final outcome can depend on as many as 65 decision points.
She cannae take it, Captain!
Well, not yet, at least. But the matter-antimatter engines of the Starship Enterprise do have some basis in fact. The possibility that antimatter might actually exist was first revealed in 1928. Since then, tiny amounts of antimatter particles, identical to matter particles except with a reversed electrical charge, have been produced. Some scientists believe that an engine harnessing the pure energy produced when matter and antimatter particles collide could one day allow us to travel far beyond our solar system.
Find out more
NASA website
BBC: Space
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