As the countdown nears for cosmonauts to blast off into space, they have to undergo the final physical preparations before lift-off.
Pre-flight purge Ahead of the launch of the spacecraft, the cosmonauts have to take a laxative in order to use the toilet before the flight. This ensures that they will only need the toilet after a few days in space.
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Cosmonauts must wear a type of nappy during launch, which receives and stores urine for transfer later to the waste management system. This is important, as they can lose up to about a litre of urine.
Up with the sparrows The crew have to wake up early for their final medical check-up.
The cosmonaut's sleep cycles are likely to be disturbed during their space journey. For this reason, the American space agency NASA sometimes deliberately shifts the astronauts' cycles before sending them into space, making sure that their biological day coincides with the crucial period of launch.
It is important that the cosmonaut's internal clock matches the environmental one. The body sets its internal clock so that the body alert and awake during the biological day, and asleep at night. If the body is required to perform activities at the wrong biological time, he explains, it will not function optimally.
NASA shifts the internal clocks of astronauts by exposing them to high intensity light at key times for three to ten days before lift-off. By the time the shuttle is ready to leave Earth, the crew is bright-eyed and alert.
Once in orbit, the biological clocks of astronauts might need to be adjusted further to align with another critical time - the moment of landing. This is done by waking the crew earlier and earlier each day.
Changes to come Once in orbit, their bodies will undergo a variety of changes and adjustments to cope with the new environment of space.
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