Inside astronaut training regimes – including ‘pee pipe’ and facing death

ASTRONAUTS have one of the coolest jobs out there but it’s no easy feat to become one.

The space cadets often have to go through years of gruelling training to prepare for their missions.

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Preparing for death

Astronauts are extremely healthy people so death on the International Space Station for natural reasons isn’t likely.

However, some space agencies do prepare astronauts for a death in space scenario.

Chris Hadfield, Canadian astronaut and former commander of the ISS, told Popular Science that JAXA and ESA prepare astronauts for death.

Nasa isn’t said to do the same.

Hadfield said: “We have these things called ‘contingency simulations’ where we discuss what to do with the body.”

The astronaut told Popular Science what he’d probably do if one of his crew died in space.

He explained: “I would probably keep them inside their pressurized suit; bodies actually decompose faster in a spacesuit, and we don’t want the smell of rotting meat or off gassing, it’s not sanitary.

“So we would keep them in their suit and store it somewhere cold on the station.”

Weeks underwater

Astronauts are put in extreme situations on Earth in order to prepare for space.

This includes spending weeks underwater learning how to spacewalk.

Nasa candidates train underwater in a neutral-buoyancy lab that’s designed to simulate weightlessness.

Spacewalks can last anywhere between five and eight hours.

Astronauts spend 10 hours underwater for every hour they walk in space.

Candidates are urged to make the experience as realistic as possible in their own minds.

Pee pipe

Ordinary tasks aren’t as simple in space and that includes going to the toilet.

Astronauts have had to learn how to use a special toilet on the ISS.

According to Space.com, astronauts pee directly into a hose contraption that sucks their urine into the toilet.

The suction in the pipe stops pee from flying around the space station.

If an astronaut needs to poop, they strap themselves to a seated toilet and a similar suction method stops faeces from floating away.

Learning Russian

Astronauts don’t just have to learn about the sciences and engineering; they also have to take language classes.

It particularly applies to those who have aspirations of working onboard the ISS where they’ll have to speak to Russian counterparts.

Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques said Russian is “taken seriously”.

He told Universe Today: “It’s taken very seriously in the program because of the level you need to reach if, God forbid, there was an emergency on board and there was a panicky discussion going on in Russian on the radio.

“Ultimately, you need to be fluent to be really useful in a situation like that.”

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