0
Astronauts
This category is for questions related to the personal requirements of Astronautical missions. The training, living accommodations, and working conditions both on the Earth and in space are discussed here. For further information on a particular astronaut, please see the name in question.
1,993 Questions
How do Astronauts overcome G-forces in re-entry?
Astronauts rely on the design of the spacecraft to help absorb and dissipate the G-forces experienced during re-entry. Capsules are equipped with heat shields and parachutes that slow down descent, minimizing the impact of G-forces on the astronauts inside. Additionally, astronauts undergo physical training to prepare their bodies for the stresses of re-entry.
No because the astronaut's relative velocity will be approximately the same as that of the spacecraft.
Why do astronauts appear to float inside their space stations?
This is because they are slightly away from the pull of the Earth's gravity - but not entirely. They, and the space station, are constantly falling towards the Earth, but everything keeps turning below them, preventing them from ever getting there. You can read more about this in the Web Links to the left.
Its because they are weightless and really are floating. There is no gravity on the space station.
*There is Gravity on the space station! This common misconception is shared by most people. The above response that says objects in Earth orbit are constantly 'falling' is true. Gravity is almost the same on the surface of the Earth as it is a few hundred kilometers up where satellites and the space station orbits.
The reason why astronauts appear to float is that they, and the space station they inhabit, have such a large horizontal velocity with respect to the surface of the earth, the vertical velocity that comes from gravity pulling them back to the surface is strong enough just to 'bend' the resultant velocity's direction in a continually curving path that follows the curvature of the planet itself. The astronauts are constantly 'falling around' the planet.
What made Millie Hughes-Fulford famous?
Millie Hughes-Fulford (born December 21, 1945) was a Medical Payload Specialist on the first biological Spacelab flight aboard the space shuttle Columbia in June, 1991. She has performed and designed biological studies for space flight, including those involving bone cells and immune cells, since changes in these cells occur in microgravity (weightless) conditions.
Why do astronauts go into hospital when the get back?
Prolonged weightlessness weakens the body. The post-mission physical determines if there are any problems that need to be monitored or addressed.
Do the astronauts all say the earth is a sphere?
Most of the time, yes - because that's close enough to accurate to be acceptable. Of course all the astronauts are educated enough to be well aware that it is an oblate spheroid - but that terminology is beyond the vocabulary of most people so they are smart enough to not complicate their statements unnecessarily.
US astronauts are killed in a fire at Cape CanaveralFL?
Apollo 1 fire. White, Chaffee, and Grissom killed.
What year did American and Russian astronauts first shake hands in space as friends?
It was in a combined Apollo and soyuz space mission.
Did it start with the Mercury astronauts?
The Mercury astronauts were the first Americans to go in Space in 1961.
How do astronauts go out of the spaceship?
They go through an air lock or depressurize the cabin and open the door.
How do you communicate with astronauts if radio waves are reflected back to earth?
Radio signals at frequencies up to roughly 40 to 60 MHz are absorbed or reflected from the ionosphere. At higher frequencies, the signals easily penetrate the ionosphere and continue on into space. This is the reason that AM radio (1 MHz) and "short-wave" broadcasts (4-13 MHz) are often received from great distances, but TV (54 MHz and up) and FM radio (100 MHz) are not.
In the simplest case, supposing the orbit of the space station to be a perfect circle, the centripetal acceleration would be quadrupled (F=mω2r).
Did any astronauts die in the Challenger disaster?
Challenger Crew:
Michael J. Smith
Dick Scobee
Ronald McNair
llison Onizuka
Gregory Jarvis
Judith Resnik
Christa McAuliffe (She was chose from more than 11,000 applicants to be the first teacher in space)
Some evidence points to 3 of the crew didn't die instantly in the explosion, there helmets had been recovered which indicated that oxygen supply to the helmets had been switched on after the explosion, indicating they were alive, until impacting into the sea at 3,400 miles per hour, which killed them.
