NASA once asked astronaut Sally Ride if 100 tampons would be enough for her week-long mission in space, but she later clarified that this number was excessive. While the engineers were concerned about potential needs, Ride humorously noted that a much smaller amount would suffice.
Tbh, this is not quite as dumb as it sounds. Tampons weigh nothing and if there’s no way to resupply, it’s not quite as dumb to take more than you need. What if, for example, there’s a series defect on these things and a large portion of them are defective?
In fact, when they asked her said it’s excessive, to which they told her they wanted to be on the safe side, so she said to cut it in half and bring 50pcs (which is still excessive for most periods, but on the safe side).
In fact, in the same mission they also brought jelly beans, which were entirely irrelevant to the mission, because Reagan insisted on his favourite snack to go to orbit. They were likely heavier than 100 tampons and also much less necessary up there.
I get the impression they were also preparing for a potential freak discovery where it turns out zero G has an extreme effect on the menstrual cycle, and they suddenly need a lot of them.
Tbh, this is not quite as dumb as it sounds. Tampons weigh nothing and if there’s no way to resupply, it’s not quite as dumb to take more than you need. What if, for example, there’s a series defect on these things and a large portion of them are defective?
In fact, when they asked her said it’s excessive, to which they told her they wanted to be on the safe side, so she said to cut it in half and bring 50pcs (which is still excessive for most periods, but on the safe side).
In fact, in the same mission they also brought jelly beans, which were entirely irrelevant to the mission, because Reagan insisted on his favourite snack to go to orbit. They were likely heavier than 100 tampons and also much less necessary up there.
I get the impression they were also preparing for a potential freak discovery where it turns out zero G has an extreme effect on the menstrual cycle, and they suddenly need a lot of them.
If you have a sample size of 0 and a backup plan of “crash and burn”, it does make sense to be extra careful with the preparation.