Astronauts can cry in space, but tears don’t fall due to zero gravity. Tears can form a “liquid ball” on the eye and can break free and float. Space can cause dry eyes and changes in eye shape during long flights.
You can cry in the zero gravity of space, but the tears won’t roll down your face the way they do on Earth. That’s what astronaut Andrew Feustel discovered during a spacewalk in 2011. He wasn’t actually crying out of sadness: His eyes were watering because a minor irritant had settled there during a seven-hour repair mission out there. from the International Space Station. The tears “don’t fall out of your eyes, they just stay there,” he said later, describing the “liquid ball” that stuck to his eyeball.
Floating tears and other effects of crying in space:
According to astronaut Ron Parise, “When the tears get big enough, they just break free from the eye and float.”
Tears don’t hurt on Earth, but for some reason, the zero gravity of space can make for a bad case of dry eye. When moisture begins to gush onto the cornea, the fluid buildup can sting.
Space flights that last six months or more can cause astronauts’ eyes to change shape. The most common change was flattening of the back of the eyeball.
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