NASA Reveals What Life Is Really Like On The International Space Station
Astronauts are some of the most inspiring people in the world.
We’ve all wanted to become an astronaut at one point or another, but beyond the glitz
and glamour of space life in the media, there are some immense difficulties that are faced
by astronauts every day.
In this video, we’ll be going through what life is really like on the International Space
Station, so let’s begin:
Who’s on the International Space Station?
The International Space Station is a collaboration between the national space agencies of the
United States, Russia, Japan, the European Union, and Canada.
It’s considered one of the most ambitious space projects of all time and currently is
populated by 244 astronauts from 19 different countries.
Astronauts on the International Space Station have to go through rigorous training in order
to be ready to withstand the conditions and lifestyle changes they have to face on the
ISS.
Generally, training before a space flight is quite similar for most space agencies.
Besides simply physical training, astronaut candidates also have to go through intense
studies that will make a Ph.D. look like a piece of cake in order to qualify for a space
flight.
They even have to learn medicine, in case anything goes wrong.
American candidates for the ISS also have to learn fluent Russian so they’re able
to effectively communicate with the Russian Mission Control Center.
Other parts of their training include being placed into mock vessels to be able to experience
what it will be like on their journey to the ISS.
On NASA’s KC-135 airplane, they’re able to experience weightlessness for a short time
right here on Earth and most of them don’t react well to it at all.
These are just some of the ways astronauts are rigorously trained in order to be prepared
for life in space, but once they actually go into space, it gets even tougher.
Their daily routines
While astronauts may seem like larger-than-life characters to most of us, at the end of the
day, they’re still humans with very human needs.
Just like here on Earth, astronauts on the ISS need to eat, sleep, exercise, and even
enjoy leisurely activities.
However, even the most basic of tasks can be a challenge if you’re on the International
Space Station.
When astronauts wake up in the “morning”, they, too, have a morning routine.
Brushing your teeth is almost exactly the same as it would be on earth, and toothpaste
is actually space-friendly!
However, when it comes to cleaning themselves, things can get rather difficult.
They can’t ever really take a bath or use normal shampoo.
Most astronauts have a “cleaning kit” for those purposes.
They use a special “rinseless” shampoo that was initially made for sick hospital
patients who couldn’t look after themselves.
For the rest of their body, they generally just use a wet towel to do that since their
bathrooms don’t exactly have drains where water would simply go.
Perhaps the most difficult part of an astronaut’s daily routine is simply going to the bathroom.
Yes, astronauts have to poop like the rest of us, but for them, it’s the most awkward
thing you can imagine.
They have a toilet, but due to weightlessness, they can’t just sit on it.
They need to be strapped into a toilet with leg restraints, which doesn’t really give
you a chance to secure yourself in case of an emergency (it’s a good thing there’s
no Chipotle on the ISS!).
The toilet itself is more like a vacuum cleaner attached to their behinds that sucks all the
air and waste into them and the space urinal does more or less the same thing.
And finally, at the end of the day, astronauts have to sleep.
While astronauts can technically sleep in pretty much any position they want, in most
cases, they buckle themselves up inside a sleeping bag either vertically or horizontally,
so they don’t just float around and bump into things all night.
Some astronauts reported that they experienced more nightmares while in space, while others
reported that they began to snore.
Eating in space
On earth, we’re spoiled by all kinds of different foods.
You can get delicious food of all kinds delivered right to your house just by a few taps on
your phone.
Astronauts don’t have this kind of luxury.
Astronauts are very limited when it comes to what kind of food they can have, and how
much of it they can have.
Generally, they can have foods like fruits and brownies in the same form they would on
earth.
However, when it comes to other foods like, say, macaroni and cheese, those would usually
come in a dry form that they would then add water to, making it palatable.
Most foods in space are dried out, and astronauts also have an oven they can use to warm up
their food.
However, there are no refrigerators in space, which can make storing food a challenge in
and of itself.
Astronauts even have salt and pepper, but not in the same form we do on earth.
Normal salt and pepper wouldn’t stick to the food in space, it would simply float away
in weightlessness and could even be dangerous, as the salt and pepper particles could clog
up the air vents in the cabins.
This is why salt and pepper actually come in liquid form in space, and you would simply
squeeze the liquid out of its bottle and sort of rub it on the food to season it.
Most food in space comes in disposable packaging, which must be thrown away after use.
The packaging prevents the food from floating around all over the place and creating a giant
mess.
Astronauts have to eat a lot more than we do on earth.
The typical male astronaut eats around 3000 calories a day!
Considering space food isn’t exactly the most appealing of foods, that has to be quite
a challenge itself.
What do astronauts do in their free time?
Technically, astronauts are working 24/7, but there are times when they have no tasks
to do, and once the initial excitement of being in space is gone, it can actually get
quite boring for some of the astronauts.
Thankfully, there are more than a few ways astronauts can keep themselves entertained.
Many astronauts have commented on their fascination with the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets that
can be seen from the ISS.
Sunrises and sunsets can be seen every 45 minutes from the ISS.
Many astronauts simply pass their time by simply looking at their view of the earth
in awe.
They try to find different locations on the real-life map they have right in front of
them.
Certain views of the earth can be quite exciting, especially at night when they can see actual
cities light up.
They can probably see their houses from up there!
Watching movies is also a really common way to spend time in space.
While it may sound crazy to look at a screen when you can see literally the entire world
outside your window, many astronauts need a break from reality and a movie or a tv show
is usually the perfect way to do it.
They also listen to music, read different books, and spend time with other astronauts
looking to doze off for a while.
Exercise is both a common way to pass time and an essential part of an astronaut’s
daily routine.
Astronauts need to stay fit and work out at least once a day, and sometimes twice a day.
Fun fact, exercising usually leads to astronauts forming floating blobs of sweat that fly around
the cabin, which they then have to catch with a towel.
I guess that could also count as entertainment when you have literally nothing else to do.
Work in space
At the end of the day, astronauts are still employees of whatever space agency they’re
working for, and they have to do various different tasks almost every day as part of their life
on the International Space Station, which, at its core, is a research facility.
Work can actually be quite interesting as astronauts conduct various experiments in
space.
They almost never run out of experiments to carry out, and a lot of the knowledge we have
of space comes from the experiments carried out by astronauts on the ISS.
Some experiments may also be medical as doctors try to figure out how living in space affects
their bodies.
On the more boring side of things, astronauts constantly have to carry out maintenance work
and repairs on their orbiting platforms.
They have to update the computers, clean out the filters, fix the lightbulbs, and other
things like that.
They also have to stay in contact with mission control at all times.
That’s a wrap for this video!
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