DealDash Heroes: Astronauts

Welcome to the newest DealDash series, DealDash Heroes! Today we are going to be talking a little bit about astronauts.

Many little boys and girls want to be astronauts when they grow up. These brave men and women are the curious and selfless forces that help us explore space and understand our world and universe around us. Astronauts are a very special type of people, and there have been very few of them in history. Here is a little bit more information about astronauts, and their importance in our lives.

Astronauts and Space History

The word “astronaut” comes from the Greek words meaning “space sailor,” and refers to all who have been launched as crew members aboard NASA spacecraft. So, technically, astronauts are only launched from the USA – other countries have other names for their “space sailors”, such as in Russia they are called “cosmonauts”, and in China, they are called “Space Navigating Personnel.”

The first human in space was a cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, who was from the Soviet Union. He launched on April 12, 1961, and orbited the Earth for 108 minutes. The first American (and second person) in space was Alan Shepard. He launched on May 5, 1961, on a 15-minute sub-orbital flight. As an American, you are probably familiar with the first astronaut on the moon – Neil Armstrong, in July of 1969.

What Types of Physical Risks are There?

There are many different types of physical risks to our heroes the astronauts. Some of the health risks that the astronauts face are decompression sickness (like deep-sea divers), barotrauma, immunodeficiencies, loss of bone and muscle, loss of eyesight, orthostatic intolerance, sleep disturbances, and radiation injury. About 2/3 of astronauts end up having vision problems due to the pressure in space. However, these brave astronauts know the risks and still choose to accept missions into space to learn more about our universe.

Things That Astronauts Do

When you think about astronauts you might imagine them floating blissfully through space like they are on an airplane ride. However, that’s not the case. When the astronauts are on the space ship or the International Space Station, they are hard at work. Some things that astronauts do while they are on the job are conduct experiments, launch satellites, and maintain spacecraft and equipment. So you see, there are many things that astronauts do that you might not have even thought about!

Thanks for Reading

Thanks so much for reading this DealDash Blog article on astronauts. Be sure to check back often for new articles here are well as on our other blogs, DealDash Reviewed and DealDash Tips. We want your DealDash experience to be a happy one. Please take a moment and feel free to let us know how we’re doing in the comments down below.

It’s time to WIN and BIN products on DealDash – perhaps you could win a gift card to Barnes and Nobel to get your favorite astronaut-loving child a book on space. DealDash has some awesome gift cards to bid on. Visit DealDash now to see how much you can save. Have fun on DealDash, and happy bidding everyone!

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This sponsored DealDash blog was written by Dawn E, a mother of 3 who loves DealDash. Dawn was compensated for writing this blog. Read even more at DealDashTips.com, DealDashReviewed.com, or on her own blog, DawnBlogtopus.