31. Is there fire in space? Can we make a fire in space? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

Since there is no oxygen in space, and we need oxygen to feed a fire, there are no fires found in space. This does not mean we should not be concerned about fires on board manned spacecraft which have oxygen-laden atmospheres. There was an extensive and almost disastrous fire on board the Russian MIR Space Station that took quite a bit of time for cosmonauts and astronauts to extinguish. Since then, NASA has made fire safety a priority on board the ISS, with regularly scheduled fire drills and ongoing studies of how fire propagates in the confines of a micro-gravity environment on board a large orbiting spacecraft like the ISS. To better understand how fires can spread in space, astronauts and cosmonauts perform many controlled experiments on board the ISS within the safe confines of glove boxes.

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Answer provided by Jim Zebrowski

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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