Suspected to be dancing, it turns out that this astronaut is taking a bath to clean himself from nitrogen

In a Facebook post on Friday, Pesquet jokingly described the sequence as a “dance” spacewalk” before offering a more complete explanation of the brief boogie.

“We don’t actually dance but cleanse our bodies of nitrogen,” explained the French astronaut.

“We breathe pure oxygen and slowly all the nitrogen in our bodies is replaced by oxygen, which is safer when moving from high pressure (Space Station) to low pressure (space suit).”

“Light exercise makes us breathe more oxygen and get rid of nitrogen faster. Also, dancing is fun,” he explained.

Outlining the procedure, NASA explains on its official website that astronauts board their spacesuits a few hours before space travel begins. With clothes pressurized and filled with pure oxygen.

In their spacesuits, astronauts breathe oxygen to rid their bodies of nitrogen that can cause gas bubbles to form in their bloodstream and tissues when they exit the orbiting outpost.

“These gas bubbles can cause astronauts to feel pain in their shoulders, elbows, wrists and knees. This pain is called ‘bending’ because it affects where the body bends. Diver scuba can also get bends,” NASA said.

An alternative way for astronauts to expel nitrogen is to spend time in one of the space station’s air doors, a compartment located between the main body of the ISS and space.

Cabin pressure is then reduced at airlock. Allows astronauts to safely rid their bodies of nitrogen before exiting the station.

Reporter: Ruth Flowers

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