Space Hygiene and the Official Nose of NASA - Mary Roach August 27, 2010

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/08/19/Mary_Roach_Packing_for_Mars

Authors Mary Roach and Jeff Greenwald dive into the dirty world of astronaut hygiene. They talk about the glamorous job of opening the Gemini 7 hatch after a two-week mission, space deodorant, and the official nose of NASA, whose job consists of testing everything that goes up on the shuttle for unpleasant odor. Curiously, the Amazon Kindle recently failed to pass the sniff test.

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She took us into the world of cadavers and examined the anatomy, physiology and psychology behind sex. Now, Mary Roach discovers the surreality and weirdness of space.

For example, what happens when you've been in space for a year? And is it possible for a human body to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles per hour? From the space shuttle training toilet to NASA's crash simulation tests, Roach explores the strange universe. - Commonwealth Club

Mary Roach is the author of the national bestsellers Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. Her writing has appeared in such publications as Salon, GQ, Vogue, and the New York Times magazine. She is most recently the author of Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void.

Oakland-based writer and performer Jeff Greenwald is the author of five best-selling travel books, including Shopping for Buddhas and The Size of the World (for which he created the first international blog). His stories and essays have appeared in many print and online publications--including the New York Times, National Geographic Adventure, Outside, Afar and Salon.