The longest an astronaut has stayed in space is for 341 days although most astronauts only stay in space for around 6 months.
After 341 consecutive days, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei now holds the record for the longest stay in space by a U.S. astronaut.
The 55-year-old has been onboard the International Space Station since April 9, 2021, and takes the award from retired spaceman Scott Kelly, who spent 340 days in space
Astronauts wear spacesuits to protect them from the extreme heat and cold temperatures and to also allow them to breathe oxygen which is not available in space.
Without the wearing of the spacesuit in space the astronaut would die.
Astronauts must wear spacesuits whenever they leave a spacecraft and are exposed to the environment of space. In space, there is no air to breath and no air pressure.
Space is extremely cold and filled with dangerous radiation.
Without protection, an astronaut would quickly die in space.
When out of the spaceship astronauts wear special suits called space suits.
When inside the ISS astronauts wear regular clothes and don't need spacesuits unless they are out in space.
Living in space is very different than living on earth and living in space is also dangerous because of the absent of oxygen so when out in space astronauts need to wear space suits.
The heart and blood change in space, too.
When we stand up on Earth, blood goes to our legs.
The heart has to work extra hard against gravity to move the blood all around the body.
In space, without the pull of gravity, the blood moves to the upper body and head.
Working and living in space for six months has its challenges.
Microgravity means that crew members have many obstacles to their regular routines, such as eating, sleeping and hanging out.
The space station has no refrigeration, meaning all food has to be stored carefully and is often vacuum-packed.
Astronauts bathe in space by taking a sponge like bath.
Astronauts bathe in space by using liquid soap, water, and rinseless shampoo.
The astronauts squeeze liquid soap and water from pouches onto their skin.
Then they use rinseless soap with a little water to clean their hair.
They use towels to wipe off the excess water.
Astronauts went and still go to the bathroom using a special toilet that sucks the pee and feces away from them so it does not go all over the place or float in space.
Astronauts also wear adult diapers in space when in space suits and when launching into space and returning to earth.
It used to be pretty hard to poop in space and the astronauts used to have to be strapped down.
Although now astronauts sit on a small toilet for their poop that sucks the poop away with a vacuum so it's much easier to poop in space now than it used to be.
Apollo astronauts pooped in space by wearing a plastic bag taped to the butt or an adult diaper.
During the flight to the moon, the astronauts relied on “a plastic bag which was taped to the buttocks to capture feces,” according to NASA.
It was a disgusting, cumbersome process.
On the moon itself, the astronauts used a “maximum absorbency garment” for “fecal containment.”
Astronauts do wear diapers but usually only when the astronauts are leaving earth and orbiting into space.
On board the spaceship they do have toilets where they can pee and poop but the astronaut will wear an adult diaper when getting into space.
The astronaut may also wear a diaper when in the space suit when it's hard to get the suit off or they need to be out in space during a space walk.
A Maximum Absorbency Garment (MAG) is an adult-sized diaper with extra absorption material that NASA astronauts wear during liftoff, landing, and extra-vehicular activity (EVA) to absorb urine and feces.
It is worn by both male and female astronauts.
The MAG is just a fancy space name for an adult disposable diaper.
Toilets in space use airflow and suction to pull urine and feces away from the body otherwise the urine and feces or poop would float around in space.
Toilets in space work by using air flow to pull urine and feces away from the body and into the proper receptacles.
A new feature of the UWMS is the automatic start of air flow when the toilet lid is lifted, which also helps with odor control.
Waste in space is collected in different manners depending on the type of waste.
For poop the poop is typically collected in a special toilet and then eventually burned while the pee is collected in a special toilet device that then recycles the urine into drinkable water.
Current waste disposal methods on the International Space Station rely on astronauts manually processing trash by placing it into bags then loading it onto a designated vehicle for short term storage, which depending on the craft, returns the trash to Earth or burns up in the atmosphere.
Astronauts drink pee because it's an easy way to make water from the pee up in space instead of transporting heavy water into space.
Astronauts drink recycled urine because of the limited availability of water on board the spaceship.
The Astronauts recycle urine into drinkable water so they will have enough water to drink and save on water that they would otherwise have to haul to space with them.
Water is a precious and limited resource in space, so International Space Station crew members recycle it whenever possible, including recycling their own urine.
It only takes about eight days for the systems on the space station to process water.
Urine is boiled in the distillation assembly and delivered to the water processor, where it undergoes a cycle of filtration and chemical purification until it is usable by the crew – reducing costs associated with launching heavy water shipments to the station from Earth.
Water is heavy and hard to transport into orbit, which is why the International Space Station is a champion when it comes to recycling.
Even astronaut urine is captured and processed to make it drinkable.
Nearly all of the water astronauts drink and shower with comes from their urine and sweat.
Storage is hard to come by aboard the International Space Station.
An astronaut is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft.
Astronauts are paid according to the federal government's General Schedule pay scale, and they can fall on the GS-11 through GS-14 pay grades.
The pay grade is based on an astronaut's academic achievements and experience.
The starting salary for GS-11 employees is $53,805.00