For those who REALLY want to get away from it all

[fragger]

You can sign up now. Bear in mind that this is a total commitment - you won't be coming back.

http://www.mars-one.com/

[Art Blade]

now I see.. well.. unless Mars blows up and comes raining down on us, it is indeed likely that you won't come back.

Or you just die getting there which also prevents you from grasping any opportunity of becoming one of future commuters. :-D

[fragger]

Thirty years ago I might have actually considered it. Now I've reached the age where I value my skin too much ;) And I'd want to come home if I didn't like it.

Besides, I doubt they would want to tote along a 54-year-old whose most valuable contribution to the mission would be that he wouldn't get drunk enough to accidentally open the air-lock :-\\

[Art Blade]

also, elderly men and that darn issue called "breaking wind" might push the cabin pressure control over the edge. They're absolutely forbidden to pick up stuff. Actually, they're generally forbidden to bend over in a space ship.

- "Hey, look, up there in the sky, I think I just spotted a supernova."
- "Nah.. that's.. actually.. it looks like.. NO! God damn elderly astronauts!"

[PZ]

 

[mandru]

Hmm... I've always avoided situations where the other crewmen's glances could turn to me while panicking and looking around for heavy unnecessary things to throw overboard (jettison) in order to lighten the load during an emergency.  ???

[fragger]

 :-D

It would be a dicey situation, I think, regardless of the possibility of life-threatening mechanical failures, natural hazards or other physical disasters. No amount of simulation or psychological profiling here on Earth could possibly provide an accurate preview of how a small group of people would co-exist in a self-contained environment for a long period of time - that is, for life. People change over time and in a situation like that there is no way of knowing how those people would relate to each other ten or twenty or more years from the present. Humans are humans and there would be baggage other than the type you can carry being taken along with them. Personality clashes, jealousies and resentments could be catastrophic in an enclosed environment where the people simply cannot get away from each other. It's not like they could go and find other people to hang out with or seek some form of entertainment elsewhere.

I see it as being like a pressure-cooker - if the ingredients do mix well during the long bake the result may indeed be delicious, but if the balance isn't right or the wrong ingredients are introduced the result may be not only unpalatable but potentially explosive.

Reconsidering my title to this topic, those who go may be getting away from it all in one sense but in another, they could possibly be taking it all with them, and an encapsulated, escape-proof environment like that would certainly not be a good place to bring it all to.

If I feel a need to get away from it all, I think I'll stick to camping. I can come home from that if I want, or when I'm ready to.

[Art Blade]

  @ mandru

[fragger]

 :-D

I've been lucky so far (from what I can gather) in that I've reached the age that I have whilst managing to avoid the dreaded getting up in the middle of the night to take a pee - I can still sleep all the way through. My time will come eventually I have no doubt, but so far I've been blessed.

Should I be a Mars colonist however and should some misguided mission planner decide that an outdoor dunny would be the most power-efficient way for the colony to dispose of its wastes, I could be in for a dubious distinction. The exasperation of having to suit up in the middle of every night to answer nature's call, and the subsequent frustration of failing to complete that task in time, would soon compel me to stop bothering and thus earn me a place in history as being Mars' first bed-wetter :-\\

[Art Blade]

there's an easy way out, fragger. Keep your bed dry and don't worry about that dreadful task -- suit up and bloody leave it on until it starts to overflow at the neck ring where the helmet connects. Only then you'll have to empty that suit and perhaps rinse it a bit inside before you start over.  :-D

[mandru]

 

[PZ]

  :-X

[Binnatics]

 

The pee-walker :-D

[fragger]

 

AKA "The Squelcher" :-()

[Art Blade]

that's good, "the squelcher" -- almost a tad too graphical :-()

[Art Blade]

speaking of which..

Morons From Outer Space

[fragger]

 :o

I've often wondered actually why astronauts never seem to sneeze inside their helmets. Maybe they get given some kind of sneeze-suppressant mixed in with their breathing air ????

Sneezing into your helmet would be a major bummer :-\\ I (and others) have done it inside a full-face motorcycle helmet - it's known as "instant blackout" :-() But we have the luxury of being able to swing the visor up to see until we can clear it. Bit hard to do that in an airless environment...

[mandru]

Sneezing in space?  In simplest terms the majority of the blast is going to stick to what ever you're aimed at when it lets fly.

Astronauts (when packed into a spacesuit) have been preconditioned in training to aim their faces anywhere but directly at the faceplate when they feel a sneeze coming on.  It's better to scrub a helmet out later than go blind in the middle of a critical EVA operation.

Zero gee doesn't give sinuses the assistance they are accustomed to for proper draining so among the crew the sound of nose blowing, sniffling and sneezing is almost a constant background noise.  If ebola was introduced aboard a space vehicle it would make the movie Alien look like a Saturday morning kiddie cartoon.  8-X

[Art Blade]

we should suggest that to the writers and producers of Alien.

[fragger]

M    U    C    U    S

[smg id=7292 align=center width=200]

In space no one can hear you gag.

[fragger]

Had to post again so the above pic didn't appear on the home page...

[mandru]

 :-D

[Art Blade]

  :-X

[JRD]

Yeah I read about that Mars expedition thing as well.... I know a few people I'd like to put on the list if they can be taken without further questions asked!  ;D

I also read that life expectancy is of about 10 years only, so I wonder who could be so desperately excited to go on a one way interplanetary camping trip to maybe cut off their own life so drastically. It seems hundreds of thousands signed up and they already started calling names for interviews.

I believe it's normal to feel interested in a trip like that but to actually hop in a rocket and go? Now that seems weird! One could be just trying to escape from a hard reality here on Earth and end up incredibly disappointed on the red planet once they realize there's no way back. Like fragger said, it only takes one bad ingredient on the mix to spoil it all. One guy freaks out, kicks the door open and that's it for the rest of the crew.  ???

[Art Blade]

yep, one goes mental and suicidal and decides to make the decision for the rest as well.. "I'm done, and I'll put you out of your misery, too." <opens air lock>

I know a few people I'd like to put on the list