Surprising Things You Can’t Take to Space As an Astronaut

Bright Side

Did you know there are some pretty surprising things astronauts can't take with them to space? For starters, bread is a big no-no because the crumbs can float around and mess with the equipment. Fizzy drinks are also out because, without gravity, the bubbles don’t rise—they just mix with the liquid in a weird way. Even certain foods like chips and chocolate bars are off-limits for the same crumbly reason! Plus, personal items like perfume or anything with a strong scent are banned since the smell doesn’t go away in a closed space. It’s wild to think about how different life is up there!  Credit:  Daily Arsenal: Charles Barilleaux from Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America - https://flic.kr/p/8Ft4Xz, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daily_Arsenal_10_01_2010_(5041122059).jpg  CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/:  Space Shuttle Endeavour: InSapphoWeTrust from Los Angeles, California, USA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Space_Shuttle_Endeavour_at_California_Science_Center_(8143982479).jpg  Clean clothes: Astro_Alex, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clean_clothes_-_Frische_Klamotten.jpg  CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/: Tnk3a: Space food Ramen,  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JAXA_Space_food_Ramen_(Seafood).jpg  JAXA Space food Ramen, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JAXA_Space_food_Ramen_(Soy_sauce).jpg  CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/:  Bulgarian space food: Ivorrusev, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bulgarian_space_food.jpg  SpacePen: Lx-s, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SpacePen.jpg  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me

Transcript

00:00Well, well, your childhood dream is coming true. You've been selected as one of the

00:05volunteers to go to space as a tourist. It's time to pack your bags. Must check the airline

00:11– strike that out, make it spaceship luggage restrictions. And trust me, the low-coaster

00:17airline rules down on Earth are nothing compared to the do's and don'ts for the International

00:22Space Station. A regular mission to the ISS lasts 6 months,

00:27so any ship going up there brings supplies for the astronauts already there. And it's

00:32not just some vital materials to keep the mission running, but also crew care packages.

00:38Those are meant to make life among the stars more comfortable, and include something nice

00:42from the crew members' homes or the support staff. There's a weight limit of around

00:4711 pounds, and the size of the package is 9 by 16 inches. Food can be inside, but anything

00:53that can produce crumbs isn't welcome. Perfumes after shaves, mouthwash, and anything in pressurized

00:59cans like shaving cream aren't allowed. And in case you were wondering, video games

01:05can't be in your crew care package. There could be some problems with batteries up there.

01:10Hmm, so no video games for months? I might reconsider my astronaut career. Clothes are

01:16good to go, but only if they're 100% cotton. One more thing that takes off with the spaceship

01:22is an official flight kit. It has around 120 pounds of flags, patches, stickers, and

01:28other merch. And no, it's not for sale in case we do find life on Mars. These items

01:33from NASA, commercial partners, and international organizations are supposed to come back to

01:38Earth to be used as souvenirs, museum exhibits, or awards. And, of course, you'd have to

01:44send NASA an official request, and they'll decide which items and how many can go.

01:51Life in space would be sad if you can't bring something that reminds you of home, right?

01:55Well, NASA's got you covered. You can also bring a personal preference kit on your mission.

02:01Don't get too excited, though, it's just around the size of a lunch box and can fit a bit

02:06over 3 pounds. PPK was introduced during the Gemini program, when two people could fit

02:11into a capsule instead of one like before. Back then, personal items had to go inside

02:17a gray nylon bag with a drawstring. Astronaut Wally Schirra chose to pack his bag with

02:2320 gold medals, 5 silver medals, flags, patches, and a Florida hunting license. I wonder what

02:30plans he had for his time in space. His colleague Michael Collins, who went on the first mission

02:36to the Moon, brought 3 flags with him, among other things. Years later, he took part in

02:41the NASA poll on Twitter and shared that he wished he had brought coffee and a good book

02:45to read. The more popular choices for PPK are family photos, ball caps, t-shirts, pins,

02:53and other things with logos of universities or teams and other memorabilia that mean something

02:59to them but remain a secret. Many crew members also bring musical instruments that later

03:04stay on the space station. One astronaut even got an alto saxophone for his birthday in

03:09space. That one must've been tough to hide. Another popular carry-on choice is camera

03:15gear. The views up there are too good not to capture. So, you finally choose the particular

03:21photos of your relatives to take with you and which should stay on Earth. You reach the ISS,

03:27embrace its residents, and naturally, your next wish is to take a shower after the trip.

03:33But don't get your hopes up. Water doesn't flow in zero gravity, so you won't be able to take

03:38a refreshing shower up there. Plus, water is pretty heavy, and it would be pretty expensive

03:44to send rockets filled with it into space. So, astronauts use pre-moistened wipes or towels

03:50with liquid soap to wipe their hands and faces. Another wet towel can serve to clean the rest of

03:56the body. But what about hair? Well, meet your new friend, the rinseless shampoo. You can't let

04:03splashes of water escape and mess up the electronics, so you gotta use a straw-like

04:08nozzle to run the water through special bags made of foil and plastic. Most of the water used for

04:13it goes back into the air conditioning system. It gets filtered and recycled to be used for

04:19drinking. Astronauts do brush their teeth, but even that simple task requires some skill in space.

04:26You'll need to attach the toothpaste tube to a wall and then squeeze a tiny bead of water

04:31over the toothbrush. Then, you can brush your teeth like you do on Earth, squeeze some more

04:36water, and wipe it off with a towel to clean the brush. And oh, there's no sink to spit into,

04:42so you'll have to take a couple of sips from your water bag and swallow the toothpaste with it.

04:47Boy, sign me up. All that space routine has worn you out. Time to replenish your energy supplies.

04:55Luckily, space food is no longer mashed up in a tasteless mix and packed in tubes we've all

05:00seen in movies. Space food advanced along with space technologies, and now astronauts have a

05:06diet similar to yours down on Earth. They can eat fruits and brownies in their usual form.

05:12When someone on the ISS wants to snack on mac and cheese, they just need to add some water to it.

05:19There are no fridges up there, so you can't bring your favorite ice cream, and all other foods must

05:24be properly stored. It mostly comes in plastic packaging or cans. To prevent your meal from

05:30flying away, that packaging comes with Velcro patches and can be attached to a tray or table.

05:36There's a convection oven, so those lunches among the stars won't be as cold as outer space.

05:42Astronauts get three meals a day, and nutritionists make sure they're all well-balanced.

05:48You can choose between coffee, tea, orange juice, fruit punches, and lemonade when you feel thirsty.

05:54Fizzy drinks don't fizz and free-fall, so you can't bring soda. There's ketchup, mustard,

06:00and mayo to spice up your diet, but the salt and pepper only come in liquid shape. Otherwise,

06:06they'd clog the air vents and other equipment, or get stuck in the astronaut's eyes, mouths,

06:11and nose. Yep, we already know crumbs aren't welcome in space for the same reason. But what

06:17about bread? One option is to replace it with tortillas. Another option is to sneak a sandwich

06:23on your spaceship without anyone knowing. John Young tried it once, but the crumbs were a disaster,

06:30so he couldn't enjoy his corned beef sandwich at all. You could also wait for the scientist

06:35to find a solution – they've been working on it for a while. A German company called Bake

06:40in Space teamed up with the German Aerospace Center and a bunch of researchers to create

06:45the perfect dough and find a way to bake it right in space. They'd need a special oven,

06:51and its surface shouldn't heat up over a certain temperature. So far, the astronauts have successfully

06:56baked cookies on the ISS. It took way longer than it would in a regular kitchen, but the result was

07:02worth the wait. The whole station smelled like cookies. Speaking of smells, they can hang on for

07:09years in a space station. And you just can't open the window and air the room, you know. So even a

07:15non-toxic material can give off odors that could tamper with the astronauts' work or even make

07:20them sick and put the mission at risk. That's why NASA has its own chief sniffer, also known as

07:27Nostradamus. His work is to smell all objects that will be in the habitable zone of the ISS.

07:34Now, you can't wait to journal about everything you've learned. Too bad pencils aren't welcome

07:39in space. The lead could easily break off, float away, and cause some major drama. A regular pen

07:46wouldn't work in weightlessness, so a special pressurized space pen premiered back in 1968.

07:52There are around 80 models of it now, and dozens of them are currently floating on the ISS.

07:58It's been one busy day in space so far, and your mission is just getting started!

08:06That's it for today, so hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and

08:11share it with your friends. Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright

08:15Side!

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