Swimming with Spacemen
March 4, 2013 12:27 PM Subscribe
How astronauts train for spacewalks in NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory
bonus spacefun: Canadarm2 simulator.
bonus spacefun: Canadarm2 simulator.
But "faintly of chlorine"?
Yes. That means the water is clean. The smell that most people think of as chlorine comes from chloramines, which results from chlorine interacting with bacteria, sweat, and other fun things. It's pools dealing with lots of that that end up smelling heavily of chlorine -- or pools where the water just isn't being kept clean, because of poor or inadequate filtration.
As clean as the NBL is, and as few people are in it (and the astronauts in training never actually touch the water, they're encapsulated in pressure suits) I wouldn't expect a strong "chlorine" smell.
posted by eriko at 1:10 PM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
Yes. That means the water is clean. The smell that most people think of as chlorine comes from chloramines, which results from chlorine interacting with bacteria, sweat, and other fun things. It's pools dealing with lots of that that end up smelling heavily of chlorine -- or pools where the water just isn't being kept clean, because of poor or inadequate filtration.
As clean as the NBL is, and as few people are in it (and the astronauts in training never actually touch the water, they're encapsulated in pressure suits) I wouldn't expect a strong "chlorine" smell.
posted by eriko at 1:10 PM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
I was there on Tuesday, trust me, it smells.
But I did not know that about the source of the odor, so thank you.
posted by BeeDo at 1:13 PM on March 4, 2013
But I did not know that about the source of the odor, so thank you.
posted by BeeDo at 1:13 PM on March 4, 2013
Neat article! Thanks for sharing.
posted by A Bad Catholic at 7:15 PM on March 4, 2013
posted by A Bad Catholic at 7:15 PM on March 4, 2013
That article is terrific - everything in that is cool.
BeeDo, what were you doing there?
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:05 PM on March 4, 2013
BeeDo, what were you doing there?
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:05 PM on March 4, 2013
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posted by BeeDo at 1:04 PM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]