Snotty astronauts should skip spacewalks, suggests study

In space, no one can hear you sneeze – but that hasn't stopped a team of boffins researching exactly what happens when an astronaut gets a case of the sniffles, and why. The key takeaway, should you find yourself on board a space station and in need of a tissue: maybe skip the spacewalk.

"Astronauts are typically among the fittest individuals on the planet, yet this study shows that even they experience substantial sinonasal complaints in space," Dr Masayoshi Takashima, project lead and chair of the department of otolaryngology at Houston Methodist Hospital, said of the work, which analysed data provided by the Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health (LSAH) Programme at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

"Imagine what happens when civilians with preexisting conditions start travelling to space."

The study looked at 754 "medical events" experienced by a total of 71 astronauts visiting the International Space Station between 2000 and ...