Have you ever been on a flight, only to wonder where all our human-produced waste goes? Well, it’s certainly not released into the atmosphere, unlike the feces produced by astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) currently floating around in low-Earth orbit.
HEY NASA…HOW MUCH WASTE DOES AN ASTRONAUT PRODUCE?
Yes, you heard right. According to NASA, the human waste that is ejected from the station burns up in Earth’s atmosphere as “rather gross shooting stars,” as Forbes so eloquently puts it. The fun fact comes straight from an infographic, recently released by NASA in celebration of the mid-way point in astronaut Scott Kelly’s landmark one-year mission in space.
Photo courtesy of NASA
Russian cosmonaut, Mikhail Kornienko, joins Kelly on the expedition, which was initiated in order to help researchers study the effects of extended interstellar travel on the human body. Scientists hope the mission will ultimately provide useful information about human physiology and behavioral health, in anticipation for longer trips to Mars and other parts of the unexplored solar system. Kelly’s participation in the study, as Live Mint points out, is particularly useful, as his health can be compared with that of his twin brother, Mark, who is also taking part in the study on Earth.
Now, with six more months left to go on Kelly’s journey, NASA’s infographic clues us in about what to expect in the next coming months. Throughout the duration of his tenure, for example, Kelly is anticipated to consume about 730 liters of recycled urine and sweat, exercise over 700 hours, run about 648 miles and produce over 180 of feces.
HOW YA HOLDING UP SCOTT?
For someone who has been floating in microgravity conditions for six-months, Kelly seems to be enjoying himself, “I feel pretty good overall,” he stated in an interview from the ISS, which was broadcasted on NASA television.
“What I am looking most forward to is just getting to the end of it with as much energy and enthusiasm as I had at the beginning,” added Kelly.
