Astronauts need to use the bathroom too

Glen Orchard students learn about life in space

Astronauts can’t burp in space and they don’t wear shoes.
Those are two of the things Grade 5 and 6 students at Glen Orchard Public School learned in class Thursday morning.
The students will have the rare opportunity to meet with Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques through a live video conference for half an hour in October.
To prepare, Hazel Stuart, a former teacher who is now a member of the Port Carling Lions Club, is teaching the students what life is like in space.
Students were captivated as they learned that astronauts don’t wear shoes in space so they won’t hurt someone if they accidentally kick them on the head. They were intrigued with images of pouring their orange juice into the air where it will form a ball, which they can suck as though through a straw.
Laughter filled the room when students learned of the tricky bathroom process, which involves strapping your feet to the floor so you don’t float away and sometimes catching “floaters” that find their way out of the toilet.
Astronauts also can’t burp because “it comes up like fizzy, yucky stuff,” Stuart told the class.
The space program needs very talented people to go to space, Stuart told students, because while they’re there they need to do a lot of work.
The video conference will take place before Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield goes into space in December for six months as the first Canadian to take command of the International Space Station. Hadfield has already been to space twice and is also an engineer, a top gun test pilot and a musician.
Stuart said she’d go to space tomorrow if the opportunity arose.
“It has to be the ultimate adventure to leave your planet,” she said.
Curtis Dewasha, a Grade 5 student, said he doesn’t want to go to space, but loves the idea of sucking his orange juice out of the air.
He would layer it like he learned from his cousin who is a bartender, he said. Blueberry Gatorade, ginger ale and raspberry lemonade on ice.
Melanie MacKinnon, the Grade 5-6 teacher at Glen Orchard school, said the classes are a lead up to the space unit they are starting. The unit will include historical information as well as what Canada can do to contribute to space exploration.
“I feel very privileged to be a part of this, it’s a huge undertaking,” MacKinnon said.
Unlike Stuart, she has no desire to go to space.
Throughout the three classes Stuart taught, students learned about the makeup of the solar system, the history of the Canadian Space Program, and the importance and trials of space travel.
The Port Carling Lions Club hopes students will be able to follow and participate in the Canadian Space Program activities while Hadfield is on his historic mission.
Stuart feels space exploration is necessary for human survival in the future.
“It’s where we belong. When you look at humans, we’re made of star stuff,” she said.

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