Mid-Week Mini: You Can’t Burp in Space (without throwing up)

In this week’s Mid-Week Mini Episode, we talk about how you can’t burp in space without throwing up.

Here’s something interesting: If you’re in space, you can’t burp—at least not the way you can on Earth—without… well… throwing up a little.

Here’s why. When you burp down here on Earth, gravity helps separate the contents of your stomach. The gas bubbles rise to the top, so when you burp, you’re just releasing air. But in microgravity—like on the International Space Station—everything kind of just floats around in your stomach: solids, liquids, and gas all mixed together. So when an astronaut tries to burp, there’s no separation. That gas bubble comes up bringing everything with it. Scientists and astronauts call it a “wet burp,” which is a nice, clinical way to say “tiny space vomit.”

Astronaut Chris Hadfield, who’s basically the Mr. Rogers of space, once explained it perfectly: “When you burp, you throw up in your mouth a little.” And that’s why astronauts learn pretty quickly to not burp in space. They just kind of… hold it in. Or let it quietly reabsorb, which somehow sounds worse.

It’s not the only weird digestion issue up there, either. In zero-G, gas doesn’t move through the intestines normally, so astronauts tend to feel bloated or gassy more often. And since burping’s off the table, that gas has only one other way out. Let’s just say the ISS air filters are working overtime.

So next time you let out a nice satisfying burp after a soda, enjoy it. You can’t do that in orbit without turning it into a science experiment.

Because the internet says it’s true.