One of my favorite things about Lemmy ~ Star Trek references can occur anywhere, at any given moment.

I have a personal metric system for rating social networking platforms based on the percentage of Trekkies/Trekkers.

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.

Still a pretty dumb approach by the NASA guys. Didn't it occur to them to ask a woman - any woman - before coming up with the initial estimate? Like "hey Sally, how many tampons do you normally need during your period? OK we'll triple that for a safety margin." There. Done.

we have found the qa tester.

I'll have -1 beers.

I'll have <r-*0> beers.

I'll have all beers.

we have found the qa tester.

I'll have -1 beers.

I'll have <r-*0> beers.

I'll have all beers.

NASA standard is 2.5x what you expect. So we're talking 30 beers for the weekend, just to be safe.

It does. I'm in the UK so 90% of the lagers or beers are between 4 and 5%.

If you get on the Special Brew then going into double figures will probably ruin you the following day. That said, start hooning a couple of slabs of Carling C2 and you'll spend most of your time sobering up pissing in the bog/up the neighbours fence/in your mate's wardrobe in the middle of a dream.

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.

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'm not sure whether that's a hot take, and I know there are different levels of tolerance, but I think you might have a problem if you drink 20 beers in 2-3 days (assuming 4-6% alcohol). Or at least you will probably have, starting day 2

She didn't say night, she said weekend. There's so many more variables. Maybe they're going to stay in and watch movies until 3AM, maybe they're going around town and not drinking a lot at home, maybe they get really drunk early on, found love, and stayed in for the rest of the weekend?

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.

How long could the shuttle stay up there if it was deemed unsafe to return?

They might have been preparing to orbit for long enough to launch a rescue mission.

100 is probably still to many. I’m suprized they didn’t just buy a box of them, or ask the manufacturers, who surely have the most data on average tampon consumption.

If we're using NASA as a reference Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore were in space for 286 days instead of a planned week long mission.

They did get resupplied with additional clothing and personal effects after a few weeks.

Coincidentally, there is no laundry or shower on the international space station.

I just wish I saw more Star Wars references but not that bootleg Disney crap, I like my star wars like I like my bands in the EU.

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.

Gooba Gabba, One of us!!

They did ask her. Sure, they could have asked how many instead, but it probably came in a 100 count well within any significant mass margins, so they just asked if 100 would be enough.

it probably came in a 100 count

A 100-count box seems like an absurdly large unit size. Are you doing the very thing that the anecdote is intended to highlight?