Astronauts wear condoms in space due to…, reason will surprise you

Astronauts, space, spacewalks, floating in gravity, all this sounds and appears very fascinating. But only the ones up above comprehend what it really takes to survive in those heights. Owing to the micro gravity, there are lot of everyday things that an astronaut is prohibited to do or should we say, they simply just can’t even try. Sample this – astronauts can’t eat bread or cookies. Wonder why? Du to gravity issues, the bread crumbs or cookie crumbs may float around, get into someone’s system to get into vacuums in devices. An innocent cookie can become a hazard.

Not just dietary rules, but it is not as simple to defecate in space. A biological process you can’t escape. In contemporary age, several things have been evolved and made things way better and easier. But, there was a time when astronauts had to use condom-like devices.

Why Astronauts Used Condom-Like Devices?

Rusty Schweickart is a former NASA astronaut, aeronautical engineer, who was part of the Apollo 9 mission. In an old interview in 1976 he revealed how condom like devices were part of their urination system.

What were these condom like devices? All the male astronauts were supposed to use it how they used condoms and attach it to the penis. There would be catheters , filtration system, where the urine got accumulates in a bag by the suit. These devices were also called condom-catheters.

However, the former astronaut shared the size was a prevalent issue that often led to leakage. Hence, NASA initially had to rename their system.

The microgravity experienced in space can make the process of disposing of human waste more tricky and even dangerous. The lack of gravity means waste could float from space-based toilers, which would not only be harmful to astronauts’ health, but if this occurred aboard the ISS or another space station, free-floating waste could damage sensitive equipment.

Urine is collected by toilets on the ISS and is passed to the Water Recovery System, which also collects sweat and moisture in expelled breath. This is then forwarded to the Water Processor Assembly (WPA), which then turns it into drinkable water.

“We recycle about 90% of all water-based liquids on the space station, including urine and sweat,” NASA astronaut Jessica Meir said. “What we try to do aboard the space station is mimic elements of Earth’s natural water cycle to reclaim water from the air. And when it comes to our urine on ISS, today’s coffee is tomorrow’s coffee!”

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