October 14, 2019

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Space Travel

The first human to journey into outer space was Russian Soviet pilot and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. His Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961.

Since then humankind has visited the moon and built permanent stations in space, but space travel remains a dangerous, challenging and expensive endeavor.

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Today's Random Fact:

Humans can survive 15-30 seconds in outer space as long as they breathe out before the exposure. Breathing out prevents the lungs from bursting and sending air into the bloodstream. After roughly 15 seconds, a person will become unconscious due to lack of oxygen, which leads to death by asphyxiation. The worst problem would be lack of oxygen, not lack of pressure, in the vacuum of outer space.

Astronauts can grow up to 3 percent taller during the six months they spend on the International Space Station. Without gravity, their spines are free to expand. It takes a couple of months of being back on Earth for them to return to their preflight height.

After returning to Earth, many astronauts have a difficult time adjusting to gravity and often forget that things fall if you drop them.

Bonus Fact:

NASA officials have maintained that astronauts have never had sex on the International Space Station or during any space shuttle missions. Scientists speculate, however, that while sex in space might pose some mechanical problems, conceiving a child could be dangerous. Low gravity could raise the risk of an ectopic pregnancy, and radiation could raise the risk of birth defects.

While no NASA astronauts have had sex in space, in 1999 porn stars Silvia Saint and Nick Lang did a 20-second zero-gravity intercourse scene for the film The Uranus Experiment: Part Two.