# Fungus on Mir **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 13, 2001, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397 "2001-07-13T18:07:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Drake\_Christensen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/96bed5/32.png) [@Drake\_Christensen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drake_Christensen)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2001, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/1 "2001-07-13T18:07:33Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010713.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010713.html) One minor point that Cecil forgot to mention is that the fungus has already been back on earth for years. In addition to the samples brought back for study, surely a lot of it came back with the cosmonauts when they finished their missions. Also, when the automated Progress resupply ships were emptied of their supplies they were reloaded with trash from the station and then deorbited. That includes all of the rags and paper towels used when cleaning the station. Drake Christensen ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2001, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/2 "2001-07-13T20:32:06Z")
Also Im pretty sure at least one female astronaut served an extended duty on Mir. ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2001, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/3 "2001-07-13T21:08:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > Also Im pretty sure at least one female astronaut served an extended duty on Mir. [Right you are](http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/mir22/status/transition/missrpt.html) > [@](#): > > As astronaut Shannon Lucid’s two Mir 21 crew mates – Commander Yuri Onufrienko and Flight Engineer Yuri Usachev, near the end of more than a half-year stay on Mir, Lucid is nearing an all-time record for the length of time a female has spent in space on a single flight. > > After 194 days in space, Onufrienko and Usachev are shceduled to undock their Soyuz capsule early Monday and will return to Earth along with French Researcher Claudie Andre-Deshays, who has spent two weeks in orbit, Lucid will remain on Mir, awaiting the arrival of Atlantis, which is now scheduled to launch on Sept. 14. Today is Lucid’s 161st day in orbit, and she will set a new record for the length of time spent in space by a female – previously 169 days spent aboard Mir by Cosmonaut Elena Kondakova – on Sept. 7. Once again Cecil let’s humor get in the way of the facts. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2001, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/4 "2001-07-13T22:37:51Z")
What do you think they did when Shannon Lucid came on board? Said, “Prevyet, Amerikanski!” and handed her a mop? All the cosmonauts were male, as Cecil stated. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2001, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/5 "2001-07-14T22:25:46Z")
What I want to know is, what constitutes an “agressive” fungus? What, does it ask your girlfriend to dance while you’re standing right next to her or something? ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/6 "2001-07-15T02:26:49Z")
Hah! Killer space fungus, indeed. If you want to see a _really_ scary fungus, check almost any single guy’s fridge. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2001, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/7 "2001-07-15T05:17:50Z")
Well looking at this page [http://www.ik1sld.org/mircrew.htm](http://www.ik1sld.org/mircrew.htm) Some of these Russian names look female to me. Helen? Elena? Musa? ---
**Author:** ![BooBoo316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@BooBoo316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BooBoo316)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2001, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/8 "2001-07-15T05:33:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\*Well looking at this page > > [http://www.ik1sld.org/mircrew.htm](http://www.ik1sld.org/mircrew.htm) > > Some of these Russian names look female to me. > > Helen? Elena? Musa? \*\* I can actually help with this: Elena Kondakova was mentioned earlier in the thread. Helen Sharman is British. She went to Mir may 18,1991 and spent 8 days in space. Musa Manarov is male. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2001, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/9 "2001-07-16T15:32:38Z")
So what’s the complaint? I don’t think any of the females who went to Mir were _babushkas_, were they? No, they were scientists. So that just leaves this line by Cecil: > [@](#): > > While space program bosses did ship up disinfectant, > administration was left to the (male) cosmonauts, with predictable results: Perhaps he should have said “mostly male”? ---
**Author:** ![Rocket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@Rocket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocket)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2001, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/10 "2001-07-16T15:44:57Z")
Of course, the reason Shannon Lucid had to spend so long on the MIR was it took her that long to clean up after the (male) cosmonauts. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![aricia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@aricia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aricia)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2001, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/11 "2001-07-17T16:28:05Z")
Hello there dawlink, just so you know, the word Babushka is not the word for “dirtophibic Russian grandmothers.” It is actually the UKRAINIAN word for witch. However, “Baba” which corresponds to the beginning of Babushka is the UKRAINIAN word for grandmother. So i guess you are partly right except for the fact that the word is UKRAINIAN!!!..it is alright though, forgive you for your mistakes! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![hextac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@hextac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hextac)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2001, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/12 "2001-07-24T16:17:42Z")
Small point - Acetic Acid cannot “pit” plastic, titanium or glass. No matter how concentrated. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/13 "2001-07-25T13:56:29Z")
\*However, “Baba” which corresponds to the beginning of Babushka is the UKRAINIAN word for grandmother. \* Aricia, Is “Baba Yaga” of Ukrainian origin, then? For some reason, I thought she was from Haiti or some such place; I don’t know why, though. RR ---
**Author:** ![aricia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@aricia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aricia)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/14 "2001-07-25T17:10:40Z")
River Runner, i don’t have the answer as of yet, but i will ask the all knowing Ukrainian Mother or all knowing Ukrainian Aunt about that and return with the answer. one thign is though, that languages are always connected, so it might be from Haiti? i will return! ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/15 "2001-07-25T22:07:05Z")
I would be very surprised if Baba Yaga had a Haitian origin. Every account I’ve read of the folk tale is of Russian origin. See the [Encyclopedia Britannica article](http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=11720), which says \<\\> I believe another reference to Baba Yaga is one of the movements in Moussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”. Needless to say, Moussorgsky is a russian composer. ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/16 "2001-07-25T23:26:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Hello there dawlink, just so you know, the word Babushka is not the word for “dirtophibic Russian grandmothers.” It is actually the UKRAINIAN word for witch. However, “Baba” which corresponds to the beginning of Babushka is the UKRAINIAN word for grandmother. So i guess you are partly right except for the fact that the word is UKRAINIAN!!!..it is alright though, forgive you for your mistakes! Cecil said nothing about the origin of the word. He said it meant “dirtophobic Russian grandmothers.” This was of course a slight exaggeration; babushka is generally understood to mean “grandmother” (or more precisely, “little grandmother”) in Russian. From the online Encarta: “Breshkovsky, Catherine, full name Yekaterina Konstantinovna Breshko-Breshkovskaya (1844-1934), Russian revolutionary leader, known as the **Little Grandmother (babushka)** of the Russian Revolution,” etc. > [@](#): > > Today is Lucid’s 161st day in orbit, and she will set a new record for the length of time spent in space by a female – previously 169 days spent aboard Mir by Cosmonaut Elena Kondakova – on Sept. 7. Cecil is well aware that there were women aboard Mir from time to time, some for extended periods. The fact remains that for most of Mir’s 14 years in orbit it was occupied by unescorted males. His comments in any case were meant tongue-in-cheek. > [@](#): > > Small point - Acetic Acid cannot “pit” plastic, titanium or glass. No matter how concentrated. Perhaps “damage” would have been a better word. Natalia Novikova, a deputy chief of the Department at the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow, was quoted in news accounts as saying, “Bacteria and fungi eat this stuff and generate products of metabolism, particularly organic acids which can corrode steel, glass and plastic.” The principal acid mentioned was acetic acid. We have seen a photograph of pitted titanium found aboard Mir. That said, we cannot say with certainty that pitting and other damage was caused by acetic acid; it may have been some other acid produced by the fungus. Our apologies. ---
**Author:** ![aricia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@aricia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aricia)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2001, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fungus-on-mir/72397/17 "2001-07-26T06:42:56Z")
Okay okay okay, all you smarty pants and your encyclopedias. Being Ukrainian i was always told that Babushka meant witch (in Ukrainian), i am sure it has a meaning in Russian as well, as explained to me, ‘grandmother’. Oh here we all go with that silly Russian verses Ukrainian debate…simply, Russain and Ukrainian are very similar, meanings of words are mingled and mangled all over. Why are we having this discussion anyway, the article was about a space ship with a fungus, but i guess we all have to get the story straight, huh?