Astronauts returning from space report higher concern with Universalism, Spirituality and references to “values orientated toward the collective good”.
astronauts
Scott Carpenter was the only…
Scott Carpenter was the only NASA Mercury astronaut who hadn’t finished college. After his spaceflight, the university granted him his degree because “his subsequent training as an astronaut more than made up for the deficiency in the subject of heat transfer.”
While performing the first…
While performing the first space walk in human history, Alexey Leonov’s spacesuit inflated so much he couldn’t get back inside his space capsule. He had to let air out of his suit while still in the vacuum of space and was barely able to fit back through the airlock.
Astronauts lose as much…
Astronauts lose as much as 22% of their blood while in space, as a reaction to the uniform blood pressure caused by microgravity. Until their body replaces this blood, many returning astronauts can’t stand for more than a few minutes without fainting.
Russian cosmonauts pee on…
Russian cosmonauts pee on the rear bus tire before a space launch. The tradition was started by Yuri Gagarin who did it out of necessity and Russians have since emulated him. Female cosmonauts bring along their urine in vials ready to dump on the tire so they can be part of tradition too.
After losing automatic control…
After losing automatic control of his Mercury capsule, astronaut Gordon Cooper was forced to use his knowledge of constellations, wristwatch, and his eyeballs to manually land his spacecraft. He ended up splashing just 4 miles from his recovery ship, the most accurate landing up to that point.
Because nobody had thought to put…
Because nobody had thought to put a diaper inside Alan Shepard’s spacesuit during his Freedom 7 mission, he was forced to relieve himself directly into his suit after being in it for more than eight hours, shorting his medical electrodes.
To become an astronaut in Japan..
To become an astronaut in Japan you are tested in your ability to fold a thousand paper cranes. These cranes are then analyzed by a team of psychologists to see how the person deals with boring, repetitive tasks and time constraints. The psychologists check whether the folds get less precise at the end of the task, and see how they compare with the first ones.
As the third man in history stepped onto the moon…
As the third man in history stepped onto the moon he said “Whoopee! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that’s a long one for me”.
NASA has a long standing tradition to wake up astronauts…
NASA has a long standing tradition to wake up astronauts with a specially selected track of music each day, usually picked by friends or family members, called “Wake Up Calls”.