Living It Up in Space

The three Skylab astronauts have been so busy coping with one crisis after another aboard America's first space station that they have had little time to consider one of the most important questions of their 28-day mission: What are the everyday problems of living and working in space over prolonged periods of time? Last week, as Skylab's troubles finally subsided, Astronauts Pete Conrad, Joe Kerwin and Paul Weitz began to verify some old answers and provide some new ones.

As earlier missions established, even the simplest tasks on earth can become extremely complicated in zero-G. When the astronauts tried to eat, for instance, they found that spoons fly off at the slightest touch and salt grains ricochet everywhere; food bags break, scattering their contents, and slices of bread float frustratingly out of reach. Even when they dug into some soft canned tomatoes, the astronauts created a mess; Conrad noted that he was "flinging tomatoes all over the place." Indeed, they had to spend up to 90 minutes each day on simple housekeeping chores.

Noisy Toilet. Personal hygiene has been no less of a nuisance. Besides ruining food, the high temperatures in the orbital workshop section (caused by the loss of its outer shielding) also ruptured two-thirds of Skylab's toothpaste tubes, as well as all of the containers of hand cream, stocked to lubricate the skin in the spacecraft's dry atmosphere. The astronauts could console themselves with once-a-week showers, but pleasant as the bathing was, it was also very taxing. Water tended to cling firmly to the body and to the shower compartment's walls. As a result, Kerwin said, "it takes forever to dry both one's self and the wall ... even using that inadequate little vacuum cleaner that we've got." Skylab's toilet, in contrast, worked very efficiently. In fact, recalling the messy urine tubes and collection bags of earlier flights, Space Rookie Weitz said: "As a new boy hearing horror stories from the old hands, I was deliriously happy and surprised at the [toilet's] operation." But that facility, too, has shortcomings. Whenever an astronaut used it, the blowers and other gear made such a racket that his buddies in the neighboring sleeping compartment would invariably be jolted awake.

Otherwise, the astronauts had no trouble dozing. "You can sleep on your back, on your side, on your stomach," explained Conrad. Moving about was effortless in zero-G. "All you have to do is to aim and take off," said Conrad.

But other ordinary activities were unexpectedly difficult. Because air pressure inside the cavernous ship is only 5 Ibs. per sq. in. (v. 14.7 lbs. per sq. in.

at sea level on earth), sound does not travel well. Thus, said Kerwin, "we're always hollering at each other. We're all hoarse up here." The astronauts also had trouble whistling--until Weitz found the knack: "You've got to hold your lips a little farther apart."

Zero-G did help the astronauts in an important experiment. Firing up their electronic furnace, they melted different materials in a test of techniques that could eventually lead to production in space of nearly perfect ball bearings, impurity-free lenses and precision crystalline electronic components. In contrast to such processes on earth, the materials should mix thoroughly during melting (without heavier components sinking to the bottom), and no containers would be needed that could introduce contaminants.

Lonely Pilot. The astronauts found some tasks particularly demanding.

While pedaling the bicycle exercising machine in the hot (88DEG F.) orbital workshop, Conrad worked so hard that his heart skipped some beats. NASA doctors were not worried by the palpitations, which they said could have also occurred on the ground. But they did express concern about another physical effect. In zero-G the heart tends to work less and does not pump blood as efficiently to the body's lower extremities.

That, plus loss of muscle tissue from lack of exercise, causes bodily shrinking. Tape measurements have shown that each man has already lost about an inch and a half in the circumference of his calves. Said Dr. Robert Johnson in Houston: "We expected this, but at a much slower rate." Presumably, such deterioration would become much more serious on longer trips--a two-year flight to Mars, for example.

A lengthy space voyage would also probably aggravate psychological problems. After only three weeks in orbit, the astronauts were already bemoaning the isolation. Kerwin, only half-humorously, identified himself as "your lonely science pilot who is hungering for human companionship."

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