How many boys and girls think about being an astronaut? Maybe not as many in the last 10 years as have in the 10 years previous, but I think it would be fun. I know that when I taught Earth and Space science at Faith Mennonite HS students would always think ‘floating in space’ would be ‘awesome’.
Seeing astronauts floating around effortlessly and playing with floating spheres of water, tossing M&Ms in the air and having them move like a slow motion explosion in mid air while the others floated around trying to catch the like kids in a futuristic, but real, candy scramble has an intoxicating effect on most anybody. So who would not want to be there to play?
Until now I have thought it would be fun too, but this article from the AP has me thinking twice about the playground in space. Lots of playgrounds have water fountains that most of us will drink from, but are careful to not touch the spout and let the water run for a little to ease our unease of the unknown. But after reading
Astronauts tinker with urine-to-water machine I think I will stay on terra firma unless I can bring my own Nalgene bottle.