Here's what happens when an astronaut farts in space

You can eat as many beans as you like in space, apparently.

Image credit: Getty

Published: March 19, 2024 at 5:54 pm

A 1991 study at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield found that volunteers produced an average of 705ml of farts per day on a diet that had been supplemented with baked beans. 

This sounds like a lot, but even for the fartiest person, it only amounts to around half a gram per day. 


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You would have to eject this at 200km/s to move yourself at walking speed – that’s 26 times faster than the International Space Station orbits (7.6km/s). And this ignores the damping effects of clothing. 
In an ‘ask me anything’ in 2013, former ISS commander Chris Hadfield said, “We all tried it. Too muffled, not the right type of propulsive nozzle.”

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