you'll have no doubt seen the iss winking silently across an inky black sky wherever you happen to
live magnificent as this celestial spectacle is it does beg the question what goes on inside join us
today as we poke around in an astronaut's home office and ask what's inside the international
space station barreling along at a lively clip of 5 miles per second the iss weighs about 420 000
kilograms and circumnavigates the globe once every 93 minutes it's big by space station standards
four times larger than the russian mir station and five times larger than the old u.s skylab and yet
the internal volume astronauts are bobbing around in is said to be only that of a six-bedroom house
the station has always been a collaborative effort there's modules from the united states
including destiny unity quest harmony the solar arrays and the integrated truss structure that
holds the whole thing together russian modules include zarya and zvezda the japanese contributed
the kibo module and the european space agency built columbus and the gorgeous coppola harmony
incorporates sleeping quarters for up to four astronauts sleep isn't easy when the sun rises and
sets as many as 16 times a day not least because the change in temperature causes the station
structure to flex and pop many astronauts sleep with ear plugs for this reason in their dinky
little telephone booth-sized bunks they can sleep any way up they fancy as up or down are concepts
that don't have much meaning in a microgravity environment how do the toilets work a great deal
of technological know-how has gone on solving this problem essentially there's a commode with
a vacuum cleaner attached flushing water would be wasteful and heavy but flowing air can suck
away any noxious waste into a bag in the case of solid waste liquid waste gets purified back into
drinking water and breathable air which is the only efficient way to go and nobody seems to mind
all that much having a solid reliable toilet the russians have their own separate system is seen
as vital from a well-being point of view once on the old russian station mir a power failure caused
astronauts to rely on using emergency plastic bags morale predictably plummeted a great deal
of time and space aboard the iss is given over to exercise without it astronauts muscles and bones
would wither and atrophy this is because on earth gravity is constantly pulling against the human
musculoskeletal system which keeps it in good shape observations have shown that bone density
drops sharply and lets the crew work out for a minimum of two hours every day there are three
main pieces of workout gear on the station a treadmill which is situated in node three
aka the tranquility module this treadmill is an upgrade to the treadmill once used on the zvezda
service module which had to be retired as the foot pounding during its use was interrupting
delicate experiments elsewhere on the station the newer tranquility treadmill has a clever vibration
isolation system there's also an exercise bike without a saddle because without gravity one
isn't needed and a relatively new piece of kit called the aret or advanced resistive exercise
device red also in the tranquility module is a weightlifting gym which uses a clever system
of vacuum tubes to provide resistance of up to 600 pounds it's not just for deadlifts some astronauts
use the arid system to simulate swimming in space and one enterprising iss occupant america's suny
to williams even completed the first triathlon in space staving off atrophy isn't the only
reason for working out so consistently exercise also helps relieve the so-called space snuffles
caused when body fluids no longer tucked downward by gravity accumulate in the head to date around
3 000 experiments have been conducted on board feeding into the publication of many hundreds
of scientific papers these in turn have led to breakthroughs in applications as diverse as 3d
printing to natural disaster tracking to cancer drug testing it's a messy business too just look
at how cluttered with apparatus the russian-built zarya module aka the functional cargo block gets
somewhat reminiscent of an unloved attic here on earth noteworthy science kit aboard includes the
lsg or life sciences glovebox within the japanese kibo module the lsg is used for among other things
delicate research into microbial life which of course needs to be kept separate from the crew
space also aboard is nasa's cold atom laboratory or cal which creates the conditions for producing
ultra-cold atomic states known as bose-einstein condensates these atoms are cooled to 10 millionth
of one kelvin above absolute zero allowing quantum researchers to ask probing questions about the
fundamental nature of matter itself it's one of the coldest places in the known universe the
russian half of the station has two mini research modules most us science happens on destiny while
columbus is the european space agency's primary lab decked out with 10 large rack systems that
can be switched out as required over time the iss has even hosted quite a menagerie of creatures
from mice to ants worms and even fish if you're wondering how astronauts working in
zero gravity manage to keep track of their tools the truth is they frequently don't during their
first days aboard new astronauts routinely lose things which is why anything that moves has a
velcro strip attached which can be attached to similar strips you'll have seen plastered all
over the inside of the crew spaces it's a simple solution but it works you may also have noticed
handrails used by astronauts to help propel them around the station interestingly astronauts have
spent a lot of time aboard develop calluses on the tops of their feet as opposed to the soles
as that's where the pressure is applied in microgravity the station itself requires constant
maintenance which means astronauts need to be something of a jack of all trades as former iss
astronaut thomas marshburn put it we have to be plumbers electricians and construction engineers
at the same time running a laboratory and being scientists it's very exciting it's a lot of fun
at some point they need to eat which presents a lot of its own challenges sandwiches for instance
are a big no-no anything that creates crumbs which can float away causes problems fungi will
happily grow on any morsels that drift into the innards of those twisty wires and racks tortillas
are a favorite the first ever ingredient grown and eaten in space was a romaine lettuce back in 2015.
last year the astronaut's dietary situation improved substantially after the delivery
of the university of colorado's ground-breaking freezer refrigerator incubator device for galley
and experimentation or fridge for short it has no moving parts which makes it more reliable
and doesn't create its own heat the way a regular earth fridge does meats are typically exposed to
ionizing radiation which ironically makes them healthier by extending their shelf life most food
is dehydrated as moisture is a breeding ground for unwanted microorganisms typically food packets
are opened with a pair of tethered scissors and cutlery is magnetic to prevent it floating away
salt and pepper come in liquid form as convection currents need gravity to function so hot water or
energy intensive forced air convection is preferred smoothies are a good bet but even
the mechanics of flavour don't quite work out in zero gravity which reportedly impairs enjoyment
and overall morale significantly but when you get to gaze out of the station's magisterial coppola
at the hazy blue planet below during moments of downtime this probably seems like a reasonable
trade-off and the crew do get to enjoy plenty of leisure activities in 2012 japanese astronaut
satoshi furukawa took a lego set of the iss aboard to keep him amused we've all seen chris hadfield
boomering up the gap with his acoustic guitar but you probably don't remember the former usaf
colonel catherine coleman who brought up not one but four flutes she even performed a gig
live from the iss which was broadcast on npr frank culbertson went one step further and took aboard
his trusty trumpet we can't be sure how his fellow astronauts felt about that stunt what do you think
would the weird food vacuum toilets and trumpet playing roommates be worth going into space for
let us know in the comments and don't forget to subscribe for more high living tech content
you