NASA Astronauts Answer The Web’s Most Searched Questions

[Woman] Station, this is Wired, how do you hear me?

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We hear you loud and clear.

[Woman] These questions that I'm gonna ask,

came from Google Auto Complete.

So this is what the people would like to know.

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Do astronauts drink Tang?

I don't think we have Tang specifically on board,

but we do have lots of fruit juices, and coffees,

and teas, and water.

And even now, milk.

Do astronauts drink their own pee?

Well, thank you for asking us to repeat these questions.

In a sense, yes, we take the condensate that

the system collects up, the urine and all that gets

processed, and then put out of a portable water dispenser,

which is right over our head.

So everyday, that's pretty much what we do.

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Can astronauts keep their suits?

Unfortunately not, no, space suits are quite valuable

pieces of equipment.

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Can astronauts cry in space?

Of course astronauts can cry in space.

The water in space is different because it sticks

to your skin, it's almost like this gluey substance

that just has this ability to stick to you skin.

So if you were to have a really big cry,

then your eyes would just swell up with water

instead of dropping off.

Can astronauts wear glasses?

Of course they can wear glasses,

Jeff has his glasses on right now,

I'm wearing contact lenses.

Young Tim Peake doesn't need glasses,

but we surely can wear them.

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Can we whistle on the moon?

The real question is can we whistle in a space suit?

And it can be very difficult, actually,

when you're outside doing a space walk,

and it would be the same on the moon because

in that case, you're breathing 100% oxygen,

which means you're at a much lower pressure.

So when you're at a lower pressure,

whistling becomes a little bit more challenging.

We certainly can whistle here.

(light whistling)

(man laughing)

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Do astronauts need passports?

When we come home, we do need passports

because we land in Kazakhstan,

and we have to go through customs.

And so our ground team makes sure that we have

our passports so that we can actually leave Kazakhstan

and go back to American when we're done.

Do astronauts vote in space?

Yes, we can vote in space.

In fact, NASA's been very good about setting up a process

so that we can participate in the electoral process.

Do astronauts wear diapers?

Yes, is the answer to that question.

When we launch in the (mumbles),

we have at least a couple of hours before launch

sitting in that spacecraft,

and then we have to go through a six hour rendezvous,

and then we have to spend a couple of hours from

docking until actually getting on board the space station.

We also wear diapers when we go outside the space

station to do a space walk.

We could spend anything from eight to 10 hours

inside that space suit, sometimes longer.

So we're beholden to take precautions and

wear diapers just in case you need to use it.

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Well astronauts can drink alcohol

when we're training on the ground on planet Earth,

but alcohol is not permitted on board the space station.

Can astronauts have piercings?

I'm pretty sure there have been some of the female

astronauts that have been up here,

the ladies that have had pierced ears and that kind

of thing, other than that, I'm not aware of any,

but I'm also not aware of any restrictions.

But I would suggest if somebody gets a piercing,

they do it on the ground, not here.

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Can humans colonize Mars?

Of course wee can colonize Mars.

It's both a technical and a political question

because it would take a tremendous amount of resources,

and that has to have the political will and the funding

to do that.

And then obviously we need to develop the technology,

both to get there quickly, land on the planet,

and then be able to live there.

But I'm certain that someday we'll be able to see that,

hopefully in our lifetime.

[Woman] Station, this is Houston ACR.

Thank you, that concludes the event.

Thank you, have a great day.

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