Haley’s Blog

Astronauts, like Clay Anderson, have traveled to space. To the International Space Station to be exact!

Working on the ISS

I had figured that working (from four to seven months) on the ISS would be hard, and you wouldn’t be used to it. It turns out, though, by talking to an Astronaut named Clay Anderson on a web-cast conversation this morning, that it is actually quite easy!

“You can move into any position to do something. You can be upside down to do one thing, and sideways for another!” -Clay Anderson, Astronaut.

Back to the ISS. There are many jobs to do on the ISS. From installing robotics equipment to science/space experiments; conducting them as well as participating in them. Some experiments that Astronauts conduct are to understand things better, like micro gravity, life forms and many other things that they would have to have knowledge about.

Water and Personal Hygiene

So how would you survive without water? By drinking your own urine and sweat! It is purified and transformed into warm, or even hot drinking water. Ew, but it’s water. It’s actually cleaner that what we usually drink on Earth! Did You Know… In order to save water, NASA invented a special toothpaste that Astronauts can eat. That’s saving water all right!

What’s for Lunch?

Astronauts need food also to survive in space, but here’s a great question: when, how, and what do they eat? Well, Astronauts choose their menu 5 months in advance, meet with a dietician to help them decide what minerals and vitamins they’ll need while in space, and they make a final decision on their choice.

Every package has a colored sticker. The purpose of the sticker is to tell which astronaut has which package of food. The drinks they have are dehydrated, so they must add water to the powder mix.

Zzzzz…

Well, there’s the choice of sleeping on the wall, oh, there’s the floor, what else? Astronauts even have a bed… in SPACE! Their bedroom has a drawer for their belongings and any other personal things. When it is time to sleep, they grab their sleeping bag and clip it onto the floor, the ceiling or the wall. There is no up or down in space, so it doesn’t matter where you are. They zip up the sleeping bag, and their arms are not tucked in. That allows the arms to float around, but no more than the Astronaut can reach. It is usually very hard to get a good sleep, since there is always noise and bright lights, but they can use a little mask that covers the eyes so they can sleep better.

Space has always interested me, and I learned a lot from that web-cast with Clay Anderson. I hope you learned something from my post!

Source of information: Yes I Can! Canadians in Space Website

Image Credit: NASA

(Astronaut: Bjami V. Tryggvason)