Oxygen, water and food are three crucial elements to sustain
human life. For the two astronauts aboard China's Shenzhou
VI?spacecraft, these vital supplies are well guaranteed in
space.
Fu Lan, former designer of spacecraft environment control and
life endurance for China's manned space project, said that each of
the two astronauts consumes 0.9 kg of oxygen and exhales around one
kg of carbon dioxide each day.
Oxygen in a spacecraft is generally kept as highly-condensed
gas, liquid gas or in other compounds. Oxygen in Shenzhou
VI?is condensed in special steel bottles.
An astronaut drinks about 2.5 kg of water every day in orbit.
But for long space flight, water recycling and regeneration
technology is vital.
The two astronauts have three meals a day, 5 to 6 dishes for
each meal, including rice, beef balls and dehydrated vegetables.
Each day, one astronaut eats 0.6 kg food that produces 2,800
kilocalories.
Different from the ground, astronauts in micro-gravity space are
more easily to lose appetite and thirstiness. Fu said nutrition
experts have been trying to make space food more delicious.
(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2005)