A DAY IN SPACE
(ON THE ISS )
During the early space missions, scientists were constantly learning about how the human body survived aboard a spacecraft. Microgravity and small spaces meant that astronauts’ daily lives on the spacecraft were quite different than their daily lives on earth. They had to adapt the way they ate, drank, exercised and even slept.
When the first men went to space, scientists did not even know if humans would be able to swallow and digest food. In 1962, John Glenn answered this question by becoming the first person to eat in space aboard the Friendship 7. His snack of choice: applesauce. In the beginning, food for space wasn’t very tasty. It had to be light-weight, healthy, and last for a long time without refrigeration. During the first space flights, American astronauts would sit down to a meal of pureed beef
and vegetables stored in a tube that they could squeeze directly into their mouths. The Soviet cosmonauts ate their own version of space food, such as goulash (a Russian beef stew) and tubes of borscht (beet soup).
Eating this tubed food was not very pleasant, so scientists invented a way to freeze-dry food so that it could be kept for a long time at room temperature without going bad.
To do this, all the liquid would be taken out of frozen food and astronauts would use a water gun to squirt water into the plastic packages of food to “rehydrate” their meals. In 1973, the first American space station was fitted with a refrigerator and astronauts were able to enjoy one of their favorite foods: ice cream. Today, the International Space Station does not have a refrigerator so astronauts are back to eating some freeze-dried food. If they bring fresh food with them, they need to eat it before it spoils and make sure it doesn’t create a lot of crumbs. No one wants stray crumbs floating around and clogging up the machines!
Astronauts’ health is extremely important. The first people sent to space had to go through difficult training before they left Earth, but many of them were not prepared for how their bodies would feel once they were moving in zero gravity. Many astronauts developed space sickness when they began to feel dizzy and nauseated. Some astronauts would feel this sick for two to four days. To make sure they stayed healthy, the Apollo crew used medical equipment to monitor their heart, lungs, blood pressure, and exposure to radiation. The crew also needed to exercise regularly because their muscles could become weak in a gravity-free environment. To make sure they stayed in one place while they exercised, astronauts use a restraint that clips them to the spacecraft. Today, astronauts train up to 2 ½ hours a day, six days a week.
Now, one question you may be asking is, “How do astronauts use the bathroom in space?” During the early space missions, astronauts had the unpleasant task of placing all their waste in sealed bags, which were then placed into a sanitation box in the spacecraft. The first proper space toilet didn’t exist until the arrival of the first space shuttle in the 1980s! Today, the space toilet on the space station is fitted with a vacuum to make sure that nothing escapes.
Sleeping is also a bit different in space than on Earth. During the first long space missions, astronauts complained about not being able to sleep very well. The spacecraft’s equipment was very noisy and had many blinking lights. Living in such tight quarters also meant that it was easy for your crew mates to accidentally wake you. When the Apollo astronauts were inside the lunar module, they slept in hammocks. Today, the men and women working on the space station sleep in sleeping bags in small crew cabins. Because there is no “up” or “down” in space, astronauts can sleep in any direction they wish—they just need to make sure that their sleeping bags are attached so they don’t float away.
The most important part of an astronaut’s day is their work. Astronauts spend several hours a day fixing equipment and performing important science experiments. Some of these early experiments during the Apollo missions included studying lunar soil and wind. More recently, astronauts have tested how fire burns in space and have even grown plants on the space station. As astronauts continue to do research, it is exciting to imagine the new discoveries that will be made possible because of space travel.