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No Rest for NASA Astronauts This Labor Day Weekend
Spacesuit Gas Problem Forces Abrupt Spacewalk Interruption
Houston, We Got Porn On the Moon
Evangelion iPhone Clock App Is Neat if You Like Evangelion
Evangelion USB Stick Entry Plugs Its Way Into Your Heart
Eva Solo Gas Grill

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cmaceachen
09/06/09

In reply to No Rest for NASA Astronauts This Labor Day Weekend
"Labor Day was created to encourage Americans to work more"
No it wasn't. It started in Canada as Labor Unions fought for a 9-hour work day.
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North Star
09/06/09

@cmaceachen: True, but it did not become an official US holiday until 1894. It was created to boost the morale of disgruntled workers - and perhaps convince them to work harder.
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Jack Loftus promoted this comment Edited by North Star at 09/06/09 3:41 PM North Star was starred North Star was unstarred

Whydoesthisalwayshappentome
07/23/09

In reply to Spacesuit Gas Problem Forces Abrupt Spacewalk Interruption
Out of pure curiosity, what would happen if someone were to light a match next to this thing?
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Curves promoted this comment

Curves
07/23/09

@Whydoesthisalwayshappentome: I am no rocket scientist, but, I dont think you can produce fire in oxygenless space.
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Whydoesthisalwayshappentome
07/30/09

@Curves: I meant here on earth, since I'm not sure how Lithium Hydroxide would react if lit on fire.
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infmom
07/23/09

In reply to Spacesuit Gas Problem Forces Abrupt Spacewalk Interruption
... followed up by "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave" ?
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admoseremic
07/23/09

In reply to Spacesuit Gas Problem Forces Abrupt Spacewalk Interruption
Are his shoes on backwards??
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DeusExMach wonders what the hell happened to his star.
07/23/09

@admoseremic: no, his feet are. Little-known side-effect of microgravity is that the bones in your feet can shift completely around so that your big and pinky toes become inverted.
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strider_mt2k
07/23/09

In reply to Spacesuit Gas Problem Forces Abrupt Spacewalk Interruption
-and that's when the Taco Bell sponsorship deal really kinda fell through...
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Knowitallguytherevenge
07/23/09

In reply to Spacesuit Gas Problem Forces Abrupt Spacewalk Interruption
Thanks to The Lab for being a voice of reason in the usual shit storm of stupidity in all things internet. Well done.
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Curves promoted this comment

Curves
07/23/09

@Knowitallguytherevenge: Agreed, some of the commenters here are very high level tech people and their insight and experience add some really good info to the usual "fart" jokes.
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FЯeeMan
07/23/09

@Curves: Awww, come on, Curves! I'm usually pretty slow to the juvenile take on things, and that was the first thing I thought of!

I do remember a TV show (NOVA, maybe?) from many, many years ago where they had someone rebreathing his own, unscrubbed air. He was copying sentances from a book for about 20 minutes or so before his handwriting really declined and he nearly passed out.
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Curves
07/23/09

@FЯeeMan: I love the juvenile take as well, which is one of the reasons I love Giz, but there is a good mix here of information and idiocy. It makes learning more fun, and I learn new things here every day (including new fart jokes).
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The Lab
07/23/09

In reply to Spacesuit Gas Problem Forces Abrupt Spacewalk Interruption
Let me preface this statement by saying that my balls are of composed of an inferior material that would prevent me from leaving our atmosphere.

That said, the danger of this situation seems to be overstated. I'm pretty sure that Cassidy was not in any danger of being exposed to LiOH. This substance is used in SCUBA rebreathers and is well contained in that application. LiOH is corrosive but the Li polymers found in your laptop are explosive and you have that thing on your lap! You must have balls of asbestos.

The device that broke was probably very similar to a SCUBA rebreather and thus this scenario was more akin to a scuba diver noticing his rebreather wasn't scrubbing CO2 well, resulting in shorter bottom time. Surely no fun but SCUBA rebreathers have small reserve tanks of O2, I'd bet NASA had a small contingency cylinder for just this type of malfunction.
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Candle Jack
07/23/09

@The Lab: What about the lethal gas in question, CO2? i.e, how long does he have if CO2 levels rise?
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The Lab promoted this comment Edited by Candle Jack at 07/23/09 10:02 AM Candle Jack was starred Candle Jack was unstarred

The Lab
07/23/09

@Candle Jack: CO2 levels would have to increase 30X over basal levels before the first physiological effect which is drowsiness. My guess is that the increase was caught well before this and could be accounted for by diluting the spacesuit atmosphere with O2. If CO2 levels increased 240X, it would take 5-10 minutes for the astronaut to pass out.

At high concentrations, CO2 dissolves into the blood as carbonic acid and causes the blood to become acidic. The process is very slow however and probably not an issue here.

The place where carbonic acid is an issue is the ocean. Increased CO2 levels have acidified the ocean, leading to bleaching. I read the Barrier Reef has about 20 years left. The astronaut will be fine, the ocean is the one we should be worried about here.
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Nighthawke
07/23/09

@The Lab: Jet pilots have died because their O2 system malfunctioned.

One test pilot nearly did while being escorted by Chuck Yeager while on a test run. Chuck noticed that the pilot was slurring his words and getting paunchy. Chuck tried to convince him of the problem, but the pilot said "shut up, I'm running this show." Chuck finally faked an emergency to con the pilot to follow him below 10,000 feet and the pilot perked back up. They got him back on the ground without further incident.

A malfunctioning closed circuit system, especially with the LiOH canister, is grounds for an immediate abort, switchover to the "bailout" bottle, and to get to safety. That comment by the astronaut makes me think back to that Navy test pilot that Yeager bailed out of trouble. It could have gotten worse if they didn't shoo him back inside the station.

CO2 poisoning is a subtle affair and someone not knowing that their CO2 levels are exceeding saturation until it's too late is all too common.

And yes, the PLSS they use has two oxygen bottles to feed them supplemental O2 and to use as a backup.
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PurpleMonkeyDishwasher:
07/23/09

In reply to Spacesuit Gas Problem Forces Abrupt Spacewalk Interruption
The heading along with the first sentence of the post led me to believe that this post was about a rookie astronaut, Chris Cassidy, who had a gas problem....

Anyway, it's cool to know that the people in Houston are continuously monitoring all spacesuit sensors. I guess I always assumed it was the other astronauts within the ISS that would be doing this (especially considering the delay which although short, may be crucial in an event like this).
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Sockatume
07/23/09

In reply to Spacesuit Gas Problem Forces Abrupt Spacewalk Interruption
The "lethal gas" that built up to dangerous levels is the CO2, by the way. Not the lithium hydroxide, which is a solid.
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Hello Mister Walrus
07/23/09

@Sockatume: "His lithium hydroxide CO2 scrubber broke, allowing the lethal gas to build up to dangerous levels."

Actually, this sentence indicates that the "lithium hydroxide CO2 scrubber" is the lethal gas.
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tande04
07/23/09

@Hello Mister Walrus:The lithium hydroxide is supposed to point out what the CO2 scrubber is made of.

It might read a bit weird but it was just CO2.
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Hello Mister Walrus
07/23/09

@tande04 mile island in the sun: Yeah, I know what he meant to say. The sentence is not grammatically correct, so its literal meaning is distorted.
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geiko
07/23/09

In reply to Spacesuit Gas Problem Forces Abrupt Spacewalk Interruption
So now that China, India, and Japan are in the new and improved Space Race, are we gonna see much smaller and more reliable space suits that cost a lot less?
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OmniZero
07/23/09

@geiko: Careful. The chinese ones will be full of lead.
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FЯeeMan
07/23/09

@geiko: From Japan you'll get the quality, from China & India you'll get cheaper and smaller.

Well played!
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NurseDave
07/23/09

In reply to Spacesuit Gas Problem Forces Abrupt Spacewalk Interruption
"Balls of titanium, I tell you."

Yes, one would really expect a well trained astronaut to yell and scream like a girl.
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dancekat1
07/23/09

@NurseDave: Scream like a girl? Not sure if I'm offended or not...
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NurseDave
07/23/09

@dancekat1: Do your screams not sound differently than a man's? It all comes down to physics really. Don't shoot the messenger.
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dancekat1
07/23/09

@NurseDave: This whole thing is way off topic - it's my fault for starting it - I was pointing out that the implication by the post is that screaming like a girl is bad or weak somehow. Anyhoo - sorry for getting off topic.
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Duckspwn
07/23/09

@dancekat1: News flash. It is if you are a guy.
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Lite: hates Illinois Nazis
05/15/09

In reply to Houston, We Got Porn On the Moon
But she isn't green!
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Hello Mister Walrus
02/24/09

In reply to Evangelion iPhone Clock App Is Neat if You Like Evangelion
I'm still trying to decide which of these is more disturbing:

1) That Jason Chen photoshopped picture

2) The fact that he appears to have made it of himself
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dvdlgan
02/24/09

In reply to Evangelion iPhone Clock App Is Neat if You Like Evangelion
Ok, nonononono...the last pic freaked me out, with Rei's hairdo.

The clock is coolio though. Any other Eva fans here?

Can't wait for Rebuild 2.0 to come out! :D
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Hello Mister Walrus
02/24/09

@dvdlgan: I hope they "rebuild" the ending to the series. It was f***ing weird.
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tollwaytroll
02/24/09

@Hello Mister Walrus: ending as in episodes 25 and 26 or ending as in End of Evangelion? because End of Evangelion, while still being fucking weird, is a pretty sweet ending.
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Hello Mister Walrus
02/24/09

@tollwaytroll: I mean End of Evangelion. While leaving the ending to interpretation can make the story deeper, I thought it was too vague in this case. My reaction was more "WTF" than "hmmm".
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IN THE FACE!
02/24/09

In reply to Evangelion iPhone Clock App Is Neat if You Like Evangelion
I pic of what this actually looks like on the phone, with some perspective would have been nice...
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