BrainFuzz.coma deliberate waste of time

At last, we have details about China’s space program. So many implications in this new space race. Is it a show of force, threatening the people on the opposite side of Earth? Will they try to overtake our scientific lead through zero-gravity experimentation? And most important, how are they handling space undies?

From: People’s Daily Online

Two Chinese astronauts, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, continued their space travel Thursday aboard the nation’s second manned spacecraft Shenzhou-6. How do they keep themselves clean during the planned 119-hour space flight?

According to Dr. Li Yongzhi, who is in charge of medical monitoring and guarantee for astronauts, the two men cannot brush their teeth as they did on the Earth. Scientists have prepared for them a sort of oral cleaner similar to chewing gum. It can be used after meal.

Alternatives include a kind of tooth cover made of germfree gauze and a sort of edible toothpaste, which can also kill odor in oral cavity, Li said.

“These approaches can make our astronauts more comfortable than their Russian peers, who use gauze soaked in physiological saline to clean their teeth,” Li said.

Since no shower is feasible in space, the two astronauts in Shenzhou-6 are provided with a sort of special tissue to clean their bodies and special cream to moisturize their skin, according to Li, adding that in the five-day flight, they will change their underwear once.

Whew. Glad that’s resolved.

My new job is going well. There is a TON to learn, but I’m going to get it.

We were supposed to go to Texas this weekend to visit friends in Dallas, but Tyler has caught a cold that’s been going around our friends, and we didn’t want to pass it around to any more babies.