Chris Hadfield on getting sick in space

Uploaded on August 29, 2013

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Chris Hadfield on getting sick in space

2013-04-21 - Sometimes astronauts experience disorientation and nausea when they arrive in space. CSA Astronaut Chris Hadfield demonstrates how astronauts deal with space sickness. (Credits: Canadian Space Agency, NASA)

Ala: Hello, my name is Ala, I'm in grade 9 and my question for you is: "Do astronauts ever get sick or ill aboard the ISS?"

Chris Hadfield: Ala, when we first get to space we feel sick. Your body is really confused. And so, you know, you're dizzy, your lunch is floating around in your belly 'cause you're floating, and, and  what you see doesn't match what you feel. So you want to throw up. So how do you throw up if you get sick in space? Oh, the Sun is starting to come up!

Hmmm, so here's an astronaut barf bag, right here. So let's say you're about to throw up in space. Quick, you get your barf bag open. And, now think about what happens on Earth when you throw up. Ah that will be ok. You, you throw up and you have a bag of something horrible. And then you throw it away. But in space, if I throw up in this bag, what am I gonna do with it? This bag has to stay with me in space for months. So we want a really good barf bag. So we have one that double really protect us. And this one has a, has a liner in it, so that when you throw up into it, you can clean your face off, and then you can push everything inside, and then it comes with its own ziplock, to clean, put inside the ziplock, and then you can throw it down into the wet trash.
So yes, astronauts do occasionally get sick in space, but we have special barf bags to deal with it. I'm just gonna close the shutter 'cause it gets a little bright behind me. Next question.

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