Chinese astronauts spurn accepted space norms with livestreamed fire experiment
Fox News
Chinese astronauts conducted a daring experiment aboard the country's Tiangong space station by lighting a candle, a move that's banned aboard the International Space Station.
Flames on Earth typically appear to have a teardrop shape thanks to a buoyancy-driven convection, according to a report on Space.com, with the hot air rising and cold air dropping near the flame. In the low Earth orbit environment in which the astronauts are operating, that convection current is weaker than on Earth and causes the flame to disperse in all directions, giving it the spherical look seen in the video.
The candle experiment is not one that is likely to be duplicated on the International Space Station, the Space.com report noted, thanks to strict fire safety rules that limit fires to specially designed racks that help keep flames contained. Those rules were adopted in response to a fire that occurred on the Russian space station Mir in 1997.