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back to article Ground control? My space helmet is FILLING WITH WATER!

Any day now you'll start to see pre-release hype for the George Clooney and Sandra Bullock vehicle Gravity, in which the pair star as astronauts cast adrift in space after a nasty accident interrupts a spacewalk. We mention the flick as a nod to the notional truth/fiction differential, after NASA revealed a real spacewalk by …

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  1. Don Jefe

    Movie Title

    the George Clooney and Sandra Bullock vehicle Gravity

    If the movie is about floating around in space I would've called it 'Anti-Gravity'.

    Do space suits have a piss bag? You don't think he was pissing in his own eyes do you? God that would be awful. 'HELP, garglegargle, my helmet is filling up with piss'.

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    1. Tom 7
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      Re: Movie Title

      If my helmet was filling up with water I might be tempted to fill the lower end of the suit with certain 'fluids'.

      Purely on the grounds of maintaining a reasonable centre of gravity in case of rotational effects of course.

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    2. TeeCee Gold badge
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: Movie Title

      "Ground control? I have a wee problem here...."

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    3. LarsG
      Reply Icon

      At least

      It was only water in his helmet and not a weeping rash!

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    4. DropBear
      Reply Icon

      Re: Movie Title

      No piss bag. They do wear a "Maximum Absorbency Garment" (MAG) in the suit though. Yes, that's basically an adult diaper in case you're wondering. I'm glad we cleared that up.

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      1. Pirate Dave Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Pirate

        Re: Movie Title

        MAG - aren't those also useful for cross-country (USA) trips when you don't want to stop to take a leak? I seem to remember something about that...

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  2. Anomalous Cowshed

    Ground control! Water in helmet!

    I askede for wine, dey givve me water!

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It the Shuttle was still operative...

    ... they could have brought the space suite back on Earth, inspect and repair it, then send it back to the Space Station. Now if it can't be repaired at the Station they have to throw it away as waste...

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    1. Richard 81
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      Re: It the Shuttle was still operative...

      Were Shuttle launches much more frequent then the Soyuz ones?

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    2. mike 32
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      Thumb Up

      Re: It the Shuttle was still operative...

      There should be space in the next dragon capsule returning to earth...

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    3. Arisia
      Reply Icon
      Go

      Re: It the Shuttle was still operative...

      Space suit weight = 280lb (http://www.howstuffworks.com/space-suit4.htm)

      Shuttle LEO cost per lb = $27,000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Space_Shuttle_program)

      Cost to lift a space suit = $7,560,000

      Cost of space suit = $12,000,000

      Repair costs etc = unknown

      So it'd almost be worth the bother.

      Anyway you could put it in SpaceX capsule for return. Their costs are approx $10,000 per lb with a full capsule.

      http://www.tested.com/science/space/44509-what-spacexs-dragon-brought-to-the-international-space-station/

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      1. TeeCee Gold badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: It the Shuttle was still operative...

        Their costs are approx $10,000 per lb with a full capsule.

        I think you'll find that all those figures are rather lower for the return trip only. The vehicle comes back anyway, anything in it is effectively hitching a ride.

        The cost of sending up another one has to be borne anyway, assuming it cannot be fixed in situ, so whether that's a new one or an old one reconditioned is immaterial.

        Thus, as the suit costs 12 million, if there's a chance it can be fixed bringing it down is a no-brainer.

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    4. phuzz Silver badge
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      Happy

      Re: It the Shuttle was still operative...

      Or they could cram it into a Soyuz. Although, given the amount of space (or lack of) in the descent capsule, someone would probably have to wear it on the way down.

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  4. ColonelClaw
    Coat

    Clearly a Radiohead fan

    I did warn him the 'No Surprises' tribute video in space was a bad idea

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    1. Andrew Moore
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      Thumb Up

      Re: Clearly a Radiohead fan

      That'll teach him to try and trump Cmdr Hadfield's Space Oddity...

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  5. Number6

    At least he didn't sneeze...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMWDPJymksI

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oscar, what are you doing?

    They'll bring the suit back, decide it's too much trouble, and put it up on eBay. A young kid will buy it, refurbish it, and then go on to save the world from the Wormfaces....

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    1. GBE
      Reply Icon

      Re: Oscar, what are you doing?

      I loved that book as a kid. My teacher (Mrs. Saxon, IIRC) read it to the class 40+ years ago (I was 11). About 1/4 of the way through, I checked a copy out of the library and finished it in a couple days. I even re-read it a couple times since then.

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      1. Intractable Potsherd
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        Re: Oscar, what are you doing?

        For some reason, it is still one of my favourite books. It is one of the few I have in dead-tree and ebook formats just in case I fancy reading it where-ever I am.

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    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
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      Thumb Up

      Re: Oscar, what are you doing?

      "A young kid will buy it, refurbish it..."

      Upvoted for the Heinlein reference.

      ("Have Spacesuit, Will Travel", R. A. Heinlein 1958, for our younger, less well read readers)

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  7. Sp1derba1t

    Ground control to major leak...........

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  8. Daniel B.
    Alert

    Good thing spacesuits don't recycle liquids

    I'd rather not drink suspicious water if I were to have other fluids inside the suit...

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Brilliant blog post

    Luca Parmitano's tweets are fantastic and his recent blog post abou the first eva was superb. Apparently all done in his off time too. Hope they find the problem and they complete the eva soon.

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