Americana: Space Spectacular

Many astronauts say that the most spectacular sight they have seen in space is their own planet, a fertile blue ball glowing in a black void. Apollo 9 Astronaut Russell Schweickart has a somewhat different view. In an interview in Co-Evolution Quarterly, a magazine devoted to ecology, Schweickart says, among other things, that perhaps the most beautiful sight in space is a urine dump. A urine dump? It seems that when orbiting astronauts release into space their voided urine, the liquid instantly freezes into millions of tiny ice crystals, which form a hemisphere and spray out in all directions from the...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!