During spacewalks, for example, astronauts require extra handholds and footholds on the exterior of their spacecraft so that they can anchor themselves and not float away. Spacecraft also must be designed to take microgravity into account. The concern was that if he vomited while in his spacesuit, the fluid could spread through his helmet (making it hard to see) or interfere with the breathing apparatus and cause him to potentially choke to death. Rusty Schweickart had to change a planned spacewalk because he was feeling ill. One famous example took place during Apollo 9 in 1969. This disorientation can cause astronauts to become queasy for a few days. For all my mind could tell, my limbs were not there.' 'The first night in space when I was drifting off to sleep,' one Apollo astronaut said in a NASA interview, 'I suddenly realized that I had lost track of. Spacecraft designers take this into account the ISS, for example, has all of its writing on the walls pointing in the same direction.Ĭrewmembers also experience a disruption in their proprioceptive system, which tells where arms, legs and other parts of the body are oriented relative to each other. Astronauts' sense of up and down gets confused, NASA said, because the vestibular system no longer can figure out where the ground and the ceiling are. Weightlessness causes several key systems of the body to relax, as it is no longer fighting the pull of gravity. During a press conference after the landing, Piper collapsed, as she was not quite readjusted to gravity. The longest sustained time spent in space took place in 1994-95, when Valeri Polyakov spent almost 438 days in space.Įven a few days in space can present temporary health problems, as Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper discovered after spending two weeks in space during STS-115 in 2006. This allowed the actors to really 'float' during their time in the movie spacecraft rather than relying on cumbersome wires.Īstronauts, however, experience weightlessness for much longer periods.

The film crew and actors on the movie 'Apollo 13' spent hours aboard a plane that flew parabolic flights over and over again.

Gravity 2013 movie worksheet