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The Infographics Show, Why Life on the International Space Station Sucks

Why Life on the International Space Station Sucks

It's been said that there's nothing more noble that humanity does than spaceflight-

and it's us. We're the ones that said that, just right now. Sure,

humans do a lot of great things, but we do a ton of completely awful things too.

The challenge of space travel though forces us to pool together the best of humanity,

because space wants nothing more than to kill you in the most horrible ways possible.

After visiting the moon though the rest of the world decided that sitting parked in low earth

orbit was good enough for humanity, but that doesn't mean that our most recent, and greatest

accomplishment in space- the International Space Station- isn't any less of a wonder.

Weighing in at 925,335 pounds- or 419,725 kilograms for nations who didn't land on

the moon- the ISS is 73 meters long and 109 meters wide. Aside from the earth,

the ISS is the single largest human inhabited structure in the entire universe. In fact,

it's the largest thing built by humans to ever exist outside of the planet.

But as awesome an accomplishment as the ISS is,

the simple fact is that life in space is tough. Turns out humans are pretty badly

adapted by evolution for living outside the earth's protective atmosphere- who knew? So if

your dream is to become an astronaut, get ready to learn why life on the ISS absolutely sucks.

-Working Out, All The Time

Humans evolved on earth, but in the last sixty or so years we

decided that earth wasn't good enough anymore and just like the Jeffersons,

we moved on up to a deluxe apartment in the sky. Sort of. Turns out though that trying

to live somewhere you didn't evolve to habitate comes with some pretty serious health effects.

On earth we have the gentle but constant pull of gravity keeping us firmly in place

and occasionally reminding us that flying through the sky in giant metal tubes is

blasphemy (animator, include scene of a plane going down here). All that gravity

had a pretty profound effect on the evolution of our physiology, and very quickly after starting

their respective space programs, both the USSR and the United States discovered that fact.

Gravity's incessant pull keeps our bones strong as our body constantly reinforces them with calcium

so that we don't collapse into a heap whenever we try to stand up. It also has a myriad of unknown

effects on the way that blood circulates and even how organs operate, and we're still learning

about these effects as NASA prepares for long-term human habitation of the moon, and eventually Mars.

If you don't like exercising, then space is not for you,

because if you want to live in space you're going to have to do a whole lot of exercising.

Each day astronauts exercise for at least two and a half hours using specialized equipment

meant to help them combat the effect of zero gravity on their bodies. Without exercise,

astronauts start losing both muscle and bone mass because the body has nothing to fight against.

But it's not just becoming a smaller, shrimpier version of yourself that you have to worry about,

because low gravity makes it harder for blood to get around your body,

making you at risk of extreme fatigue and passing out.

Fatigue, loss of bone mass and muscles, and the threat of constantly fainting-

the ISS definitely sounds like a place it sucks to live in. But if you have a sensitive nose,

you won't like our next reason why living in the ISS sucks.

-Recycled Farts-

Take in a deep breath. Odds are you probably smell whatever's immediately around you-

but even if that scent is bad, you know it's just not going to linger for long.

If your brother starts getting a bad case of the bottom-end grumps,

you know all you have to do is open a window and the stink is nothing more than a memory.

Now imagine that you can't open a window. Or, that you can never get fresh air.

That's the ISS.

One of the chief concerns of spaceflight is ensuring that astronauts have enough

breathable oxygen, because after extensive scientific research man's greatest minds

deduced that breathing is pretty important for keeping people alive. But getting things into

space is extremely expensive, so expensive that getting a few months worth of oxygen

up to the ISS is simply a non-starter without bankrupting a small nation.

That's why the ISS uses state of the art oxygen recycling systems,

which can reuse oxygen over and over again. It does this by first splitting water brought

up in resupply missions into oxygen and hydrogen. That hydrogen is recombined back into water using

black magic- or, science, we guess- which in turn means you can create more oxygen.

But that also means that you're going to be re-breathing the same fart for a very long time.

Like Astronaut Scott Kelly- who spent a year in space- said in an interview once,

smells linger on the ISS, specially because without gravity, scents can more freely spread.

But bad smells isn't all, because aboard the ISS everything- not just air- has to be recycled,

and that means water... as in the water that you pee out. As another astronaut put it,

yesterday's coffee is tomorrow's coffee.

You'll be drinking so much of your own pee in space that you'll make Bear Grylls proud.

-Showers Can And Will Kill You-

Who doesn't love a nice hot shower? Well, on the ISS taking a shower is not just

practically impossible, but also potentially deadly-

as American astronauts found out back in the Skylab days.

During the early days of space flight when crews would be in space for a few days,

they had no chance to clean themselves, and it was said that the smell of returning astronauts and

cosmonauts was so strong that it was like running into a wall for the crews that recovered them.

When the US put its first space station into orbit, Skylab, one of the things that

NASA determined would be important was crew comfort, and so it included a sort of shower.

The Skylab shower consisted of a special curtain you could pull up around you which cocooned you in

a small tube-like structure. Then you turned on water which shot down on you from above-

above of course being an extremely relative term in space. You would

then lather up and wipe yourself clean with floating water, before vacuuming it all up.

The problem though is that in zero gravity water behaves more like Jello than... well, water,

and tends to clump together. Also, it has nowhere to 'fall' to, so it just sort of floats around

heading wherever it last had momentum towards. This proved to be particularly dangerous as large

clumps of water could easily be inhaled or float directly over an astronaut's mouth or nose. Also,

there was the ever-present threat of water getting loose and floating everywhere,

and on a space station jam-packed with delicate electronic equipment

the last thing you want is an electrical short.

Skylab's shower risks were so bad that when it came time for the ISS,

NASA said astronauts would just have to resort to wiping down manually. While many astronauts

will attest that you can get decently clean in space wiping yourself down with wet towels,

the truth is that you can only get so clean when you can't run soap and water over you.

-Radiation Everywhere-

On earth radiation is only a concern when ordering sushi fished up off the coast of Fukushima,

or when one is trying to get the superpowers of a spider. Space however is pretty much

lousy with radiation, and at such extreme altitudes, astronauts on the ISS don't enjoy

as many of the benefits of the earth's magnetic field to protect them as we do.

You'll pretty much notice immediately that you're suddenly smack-dab in the middle of

a cosmic radioactive shooting gallery the first time you close your eyes. With your

eyes closed you'll start seeing flashes of light like some sort of disco resurgence,

but it's not terrible 70s music making a comeback- its the universe trying to murder you to death.

Stars, black holes, and all kinds of other celestial phenomena do science stuff all the

time. A lot of that nerd science stuff creates radiation. That radiation then travels across the

universe until it finds your soft, squishy body full of DNA to destroy. The awesome light show

you're enjoying with your eyes closed is highly charged particles smacking into your eyeballs and

tricking your brain into believing it's receiving a signal telling it that your eyes see light.

And the flashes are just from the radiation hitting your eyes-

imagine how much more blasts the rest of your body and you can't even see.

But of course the ISS is well shielded against radiation,

but nobody knows just how well protected you would be in the ISS from a particularly energetic

release of radiation by the sun or a nearby star. Even with low levels of radiation though,

the fact is your DNA's still being cooked over weeks, months, or even years in space.

What does all that radiation do to your body? Well, we haven't observed enough

individuals for long enough who've endured long-term spaceflight to really know yet.

Most scientists agree that astronauts have a higher chance for cancer,

and maybe like a .01% chance of superpowers, but just how big a chance for the big C is unknown.

What is for sure though is that if the ISS's shielding ever failed or was damaged somehow,

and a strong blast of radiation washed over it, you'd be cooked faster than popcorn on high.

Speaking of cooking though, if going to space makes you hungry,

enjoy your food while you still can here on earth because in space...

-The Food Is Terrible-

You can't really cook in space, at least not in the conventional sense- we're pretty sure

most of our fans already knew that. Lugging up the supplies for making a home cooked meal

in space would be pretty wasteful use of very limited space on cargo flights. Plus,

how would you even keep pancakes from just floating off a pan?

Instead, all space food comes in plastic packaging, and while you may have an oven to

heat it up, it's all pre-cooked. NASA does try to provide variety in order to keep morale up,

but the simple fact is that pre-cooked meals taste universally terrible, and even more so

when the actual food you can serve on the ISS has to be something that won't make a giant mess.

Macaroni and spaghetti with meatballs is a staple item, but forget about a nice stew or lentil soup.

Condiments are available, though salt and pepper come in liquid form-

and we have no idea what that even means nor do we want to find out.

The reasoning is solid though- salt and pepper in their normal forms would simply

float away and get just everywhere. It's a good thing that condiments are available,

because you simply won't taste much of your food unless its lathered in pounds of condiments.

If you've ever seen footage of astronauts in the ISS, no doubt you've noticed they all look a bit

puffy in the face. That's because without gravity all the fluids in your head go on a free-for-all,

floating around wherever they like. In turn, this makes astronauts congested,

and if you've ever had a really bad cold then you know that unless you're

eating wasabi by the spoonful, you really can't taste much.

Terrible food, radiation that will kill you, recycled farts,

and showers that'll drown you- life on the ISS definitely sucks, which only makes us

admire more the men and women who are even right now pushing the limits of the final frontier.

Since space will probably kill you, find out what happens if you die

in space- or watch this other video instead!

Why Life on the International Space Station Sucks Warum das Leben auf der Internationalen Raumstation ätzend ist Γιατί η ζωή στον Διεθνή Διαστημικό Σταθμό είναι χάλια Por qué la vida en la Estación Espacial Internacional apesta 国際宇宙ステーションでの生活が最悪な理由 국제우주정거장 생활이 짜증나는 이유 Dlaczego życie na Międzynarodowej Stacji Kosmicznej jest do bani Porque é que a vida na Estação Espacial Internacional é uma porcaria Почему жизнь на Международной космической станции - отстой Uluslararası Uzay İstasyonunda Yaşam Neden Berbat? 为什么国际空间站上的生活很糟糕

It's been said that there's nothing more  noble that humanity does than spaceflight- ||||||||||||space exploration Говорят, что человечество делает ничего благороднее космического полета.

and it's us. We're the ones that  said that, just right now. Sure,

humans do a lot of great things, but we  do a ton of completely awful things too. |||||||||||a lot|||||

The challenge of space travel though forces  us to pool together the best of humanity, |||||However|||||||||

because space wants nothing more than to  kill you in the most horrible ways possible.

After visiting the moon though the rest of the  world decided that sitting parked in low earth |||the Moon|However|||||||||stationary|||

orbit was good enough for humanity, but that  doesn't mean that our most recent, and greatest path of travel|||||||||||||||

accomplishment in space- the International  Space Station- isn't any less of a wonder. achievement||||||||||||

Weighing in at 925,335 pounds- or 419,725  kilograms for nations who didn't land on Having a weight|||||||||||

the moon- the ISS is 73 meters long and  109 meters wide. Aside from the earth, |||International Space Station||meters||||||||

the ISS is the single largest human inhabited  structure in the entire universe. In fact, |||||||occupied by humans|||||||

it's the largest thing built by humans  to ever exist outside of the planet.

But as awesome an accomplishment as the ISS is,

the simple fact is that life in space is  tough. Turns out humans are pretty badly |||||||||challenging||||||

adapted by evolution for living outside the  earth's protective atmosphere- who knew? So if evolved||||||||shielding|space environment||||

your dream is to become an astronaut, get ready  to learn why life on the ISS absolutely sucks. ||||||space traveler|||||||||||

-Working Out, All The Time

Humans evolved on earth, but in  the last sixty or so years we ||||||||60 or so||||

decided that earth wasn't good enough  anymore and just like the Jeffersons, |||||||||||moving on up

we moved on up to a deluxe apartment in the  sky. Sort of. Turns out though that trying ||||||luxurious|||||Kind of|||||| we gingen verder naar een luxe appartement in de lucht. Soort van. Dat blijkt echter te proberen

to live somewhere you didn't evolve to habitate  comes with some pretty serious health effects. |||||adapted to live||inhabit or reside|||||||

On earth we have the gentle but constant  pull of gravity keeping us firmly in place |||||mild||||||||securely||

and occasionally reminding us that flying  through the sky in giant metal tubes is ||||||||||||airplane fuselages|

blasphemy (animator, include scene of a  plane going down here). All that gravity "profanity"|Plane crash scene||Plane crash scene|||||||||

had a pretty profound effect on the evolution of  our physiology, and very quickly after starting |||Significant|||||||our body's functions|||||

their respective space programs, both the USSR  and the United States discovered that fact. |own||space missions|||Soviet Union|||||||

Gravity's incessant pull keeps our bones strong as  our body constantly reinforces them with calcium force of gravity|constant||||||||||strengthens|||mineral for bones

so that we don't collapse into a heap whenever we  try to stand up. It also has a myriad of unknown ||||fall apart|||pile|each time||||remain upright||||||countless number of||

effects on the way that blood circulates and  even how organs operate, and we're still learning impacts||||||moves through body||||Body parts|||||

about these effects as NASA prepares for long-term  human habitation of the moon, and eventually Mars. |||||gets ready|||||living on||||||

If you don't like exercising,  then space is not for you,

because if you want to live in space you're  going to have to do a whole lot of exercising.

Each day astronauts exercise for at least two  and a half hours using specialized equipment ||space travelers||||||||||||

meant to help them combat the effect of zero  gravity on their bodies. Without exercise, ||||counteract||||||||||

astronauts start losing both muscle and bone mass  because the body has nothing to fight against. ||||||skeletal tissue|||||||||

But it's not just becoming a smaller, shrimpier  version of yourself that you have to worry about, |||||||more diminutive||||||||| Maar het wordt niet alleen een kleinere, meer garnalenvariant van jezelf waar je je zorgen over moet maken,

because low gravity makes it harder  for blood to get around your body,

making you at risk of extreme  fatigue and passing out. ||||||extreme tiredness|||

Fatigue, loss of bone mass and muscles,  and the threat of constantly fainting- ||||||||||||Passing out

the ISS definitely sounds like a place it sucks  to live in. But if you have a sensitive nose, ||||||||||||||||||sense of smell

you won't like our next reason  why living in the ISS sucks.

-Recycled Farts- Reused|Reused flatulence emissions

Take in a deep breath. Odds are you probably  smell whatever's immediately around you- ||||inhale deeply|Chances are|||||whatever is|||

but even if that scent is bad, you know  it's just not going to linger for long. ||||odor||||||||||stay around||

If your brother starts getting a  bad case of the bottom-end grumps, ||||||||||||bad mood Если у вашего брата начнутся проблемы со здоровьем,

you know all you have to do is open a window  and the stink is nothing more than a memory. |||||||||||||bad smell||||||

Now imagine that you can't open a window.  Or, that you can never get fresh air.

That's the ISS.

One of the chief concerns of spaceflight  is ensuring that astronauts have enough |||main|main issues||||making certain||||

breathable oxygen, because after extensive  scientific research man's greatest minds suitable for breathing|Breathable oxygen|||Thorough|||||

deduced that breathing is pretty important for  keeping people alive. But getting things into concluded||respiration|||||||||||

space is extremely expensive, so expensive  that getting a few months worth of oxygen

up to the ISS is simply a non-starter  without bankrupting a small nation. ||||||||||financially ruining||| tot aan het ISS is gewoon een niet-starter zonder een klein land failliet te laten gaan.

That's why the ISS uses state of  the art oxygen recycling systems, ||||||||||reusing or processing|

which can reuse oxygen over and over again.  It does this by first splitting water brought ||recycle|||||||||||Breaking down||

up in resupply missions into oxygen and hydrogen.  That hydrogen is recombined back into water using ||replenishment|supply operations||||hydrogen||hydrogen gas||combined again||||

black magic- or, science, we guess- which  in turn means you can create more oxygen.

But that also means that you're going to be  re-breathing the same fart for a very long time. |||||||||||||flatulent gas|||||

Like Astronaut Scott Kelly- who spent a  year in space- said in an interview once, ||Scott Kelly||||||||||||

smells linger on the ISS, specially because  without gravity, scents can more freely spread. |persist||||especially||||odors|||more easily|

But bad smells isn't all, because aboard the ISS  everything- not just air- has to be recycled, ||||||on the ISS||||||||||

and that means water... as in the water that  you pee out. As another astronaut put it, ||||||||||urinate||||||

yesterday's coffee is tomorrow's coffee. previous day's|||the next day's|

You'll be drinking so much of your own pee  in space that you'll make Bear Grylls proud. |||||||||||||||Bear Grylls|

-Showers Can And Will Kill You-

Who doesn't love a nice hot shower? Well,  on the ISS taking a shower is not just

practically impossible, but  also potentially deadly- ||||possibly|

as American astronauts found  out back in the Skylab days. ||||||||space station program|

During the early days of space flight when  crews would be in space for a few days, ||||||space travel||spaceflight teams||||||||

they had no chance to clean themselves, and it was  said that the smell of returning astronauts and |||||||||||||||coming back||

cosmonauts was so strong that it was like running  into a wall for the crews that recovered them. space travelers|||||||||||immovable barrier|||recovery teams||retrieved| Космонавты были настолько сильны, что для экипажей, которые их извлекали, это было все равно что натолкнуться на стену.

When the US put its first space station  into orbit, Skylab, one of the things that

NASA determined would be important was crew  comfort, and so it included a sort of shower.

The Skylab shower consisted of a special curtain  you could pull up around you which cocooned you in |||||||privacy screen||||||||enveloped you in|| De Skylab-douche bestond uit een speciaal gordijn dat je om je heen kon trekken en waarin je in een cocon zat

a small tube-like structure. Then you turned  on water which shot down on you from above- ||Showerhead nozzle||||||||||||||from overhead

above of course being an extremely  relative term in space. You would ||||||comparative|||||

then lather up and wipe yourself clean with  floating water, before vacuuming it all up. |apply soap to|||clean off||||suspended in air|||sucking it up|||

The problem though is that in zero gravity water  behaves more like Jello than... well, water, ||however||||||||||gelatinous substance|||

and tends to clump together. Also, it has nowhere  to 'fall' to, so it just sort of floats around |||Stick together|||||no place|||||||kind of||Hovers|

heading wherever it last had momentum towards.  This proved to be particularly dangerous as large Moving towards momentum|||||forward motion|||||||||

clumps of water could easily be inhaled or float  directly over an astronaut's mouth or nose. Also, clusters of water||||||breathed in||||||the astronaut's||||

there was the ever-present threat of water  getting loose and floating everywhere, |||||constant danger||||escaping|||

and on a space station jam-packed  with delicate electronic equipment ||||||filled with||easily damaged||

the last thing you want is an electrical short.

Skylab's shower risks were so bad  that when it came time for the ISS, Skylab's shower risks||dangers|||||||||||

NASA said astronauts would just have to resort  to wiping down manually. While many astronauts |||||||||cleaning manually||||| В НАСА заявили, что астронавтам придется вытираться вручную. Хотя многие астронавты

will attest that you can get decently clean  in space wiping yourself down with wet towels, |confirm or verify|||||adequately||||||||moist or damp|wet cloths

the truth is that you can only get so clean  when you can't run soap and water over you. ||||||||||||||cleaning substance|||| Правда в том, что вы можете стать настолько чистым, что не сможете провести по себе водой с мылом.

-Radiation Everywhere-

On earth radiation is only a concern when ordering  sushi fished up off the coast of Fukushima, ||||||||purchasing|sushi from Fukushima|caught||||||

or when one is trying to get the superpowers  of a spider. Space however is pretty much ||||||||Spider abilities|||Spider abilities|||||

lousy with radiation, and at such extreme  altitudes, astronauts on the ISS don't enjoy filled with|||||||high elevations||||||

as many of the benefits of the earth's  magnetic field to protect them as we do. ||||||||Earth's magnetic field|||||||

You'll pretty much notice immediately that  you're suddenly smack-dab in the middle of ||||||||right in the|exactly in the||||

a cosmic radioactive shooting gallery the  first time you close your eyes. With your |cosmic|radioactive cosmic barrage||cosmic shooting gallery|||||||||

eyes closed you'll start seeing flashes of  light like some sort of disco resurgence, |||||bursts of light|||||kind of||dance party lights|revival or return

but it's not terrible 70s music making a comeback-  its the universe trying to murder you to death. ||||||||returning to popularity|||||||||

Stars, black holes, and all kinds of other  celestial phenomena do science stuff all the ||black holes||||||heavenly|celestial events|||||

time. A lot of that nerd science stuff creates  radiation. That radiation then travels across the |||||||||||||moves through time||

universe until it finds your soft, squishy body  full of DNA to destroy. The awesome light show ||||||soft and pliable||||genetic material||obliterate||||

you're enjoying with your eyes closed is highly  charged particles smacking into your eyeballs and ||||||||||hitting|||eyes|

tricking your brain into believing it's receiving  a signal telling it that your eyes see light. Fooling||||perceiving||getting|||||||||

And the flashes are just from  the radiation hitting your eyes-

imagine how much more blasts the rest  of your body and you can't even see. ||||impacts or shocks||||||||||

But of course the ISS is well  shielded against radiation, |||||||protected||

but nobody knows just how well protected you  would be in the ISS from a particularly energetic ||||||safeguarded||||||||||

release of radiation by the sun or a nearby  star. Even with low levels of radiation though, Emission||||||||close star||||||||However

the fact is your DNA's still being cooked  over weeks, months, or even years in space. ||||DNA is|||altered or affected||||||||

What does all that radiation do to your  body? Well, we haven't observed enough ||||||||||||seen enough evidence|

individuals for long enough who've endured  long-term spaceflight to really know yet. |||||experienced|||||||

Most scientists agree that astronauts  have a higher chance for cancer,

and maybe like a .01% chance of superpowers, but  just how big a chance for the big C is unknown. и, возможно, вероятность появления сверхспособностей составляет 0,01%, но насколько велика вероятность появления большой буквы "С" - неизвестно.

What is for sure though is that if the ISS's  shielding ever failed or was damaged somehow, ||||however|||||International Space Station's|protective barrier|||||harmed|

and a strong blast of radiation washed over it,  you'd be cooked faster than popcorn on high. |||intense burst|||swept over||||||||||

Speaking of cooking though, if  going to space makes you hungry,

enjoy your food while you still can  here on earth because in space...

-The Food Is Terrible-

You can't really cook in space, at least not  in the conventional sense- we're pretty sure |||||||||||traditional or usual||||

most of our fans already knew that. Lugging  up the supplies for making a home cooked meal |||||||Carrying with effort|||||||||

in space would be pretty wasteful use of  very limited space on cargo flights. Plus, |||||inefficient|||||||freight|cargo missions|

how would you even keep pancakes  from just floating off a pan? |||||Pancakes||||||cooking surface

Instead, all space food comes in plastic  packaging, and while you may have an oven to |||||||plastic wrapping||||||||

heat it up, it's all pre-cooked. NASA does try  to provide variety in order to keep morale up, |||||already prepared||||||||||||team spirit|

but the simple fact is that pre-cooked meals  taste universally terrible, and even more so ||||||||||without exception|||||

when the actual food you can serve on the ISS  has to be something that won't make a giant mess. ||||||provide||||||||||||| когда настоящая еда, которую можно подавать на МКС, должна быть такой, чтобы не создавать огромного беспорядка.

Macaroni and spaghetti with meatballs is a staple  item, but forget about a nice stew or lentil soup. Macaroni||spaghetti||meat-based balls|||essential food item|||||||hearty meat dish||lentil|lentil broth

Condiments are available, though  salt and pepper come in liquid form- Seasoning options|||however|||liquid pepper|||liquid state|

and we have no idea what that even  means nor do we want to find out.

The reasoning is solid though- salt and  pepper in their normal forms would simply |Logical thinking||well-founded||||||||||

float away and get just everywhere. It's a  good thing that condiments are available,

because you simply won't taste much of your food  unless its lathered in pounds of condiments. |||||||||||covered in||||

If you've ever seen footage of astronauts in the  ISS, no doubt you've noticed they all look a bit ||||video recording||||||||||||||

puffy in the face. That's because without gravity  all the fluids in your head go on a free-for-all, swollen||||||||||liquids and gases||||||||| одутловатое лицо. Это происходит потому, что без гравитации все жидкости в вашей голове выходят на свободу,

floating around wherever they like. In  turn, this makes astronauts congested, ||||||||||blocked up

and if you've ever had a really bad  cold then you know that unless you're

eating wasabi by the spoonful,  you really can't taste much. |spicy green paste|||spoonful|||||

Terrible food, radiation that  will kill you, recycled farts,

and showers that'll drown you- life on the  ISS definitely sucks, which only makes us |||overwhelm or submerge|||||||||||

admire more the men and women who are even right  now pushing the limits of the final frontier. |||||||||||||||||uncharted territory

Since space will probably kill you,  find out what happens if you die

in space- or watch this other video instead!