WHAT IS THE EVERYDAY LIFE OF AN ASTRONAUT IN SPACE LIKE?

the everyday life of astronauts in a space station is no different from ours on earth sleeping eating working doing sports and personal hygiene are all still part of the daily routine however due to zero-gravity these things are associated with some challenges and difficulties and take up more time and require more effort for the astronauts in the morning the astronauts can decide when exactly they want to get up they have to attend the morning conference with the ground stations to discuss the daily schedule though the clocks on the ISS are set to London time to make sure that astronauts from different countries do not sleep and work at different times because there aren't really day and night on the space station since within a span of 24 hours the Sun rises and sets several times showering and brushing your teeth in the morning aren't as easy as you might think after all there is no running water on the ISS because the droplets would simply float around in the room and there would be a risk that they could get into technical equipment and cause it to break water is therefore made available in bags with a straw similar to drinking bottles first you squeeze out a drop of water then you pick it up with your toothbrush after that you repeat the same thing with your toothpaste for cleaning yourself you can either use wet cloths or a shower head which you have to press directly onto your skin and which immediately sucks in the used water afterwards the toilet does not work with water but with negative pressure if they don't want to hold themselves in place for the whole time the astronauts have to strap themselves to the toilet there's even a system on the ISS which can purify urine and turn it into drinking water the wet cloths for cleaning themselves are hung in a drying room where the water is processed and reused as well since the astronauts can't simply take tons of water with them to the space station luckily astronaut meals from a tube don't exist anymore now astronauts eat normal dishes which are taken to the space station in the form of cans or simply freeze-dried later dishes like pasta with a nice sauce or vegetables meat can be eaten in space the menu is put together on the ground and each of the crew members gets three meals with some snacks a day if they get hungry all they have to do is moisten and warm up the food and then eat it directly from the container with a spoon however they have to make sure to bring the spoon to their mouth fast enough to keep the food from floating around in the air crumbs or grains are avoided as well as possible since similar to the water the crumbs could get into cracks space bread has a wrap like consistency and the food is generally quite soggy in addition the dishes are flavored much more than on earth because zero gravity causes much more blood to flow into the upper body in the head so that the mucous membranes swell as when having a cold this causes you to not be able to taste much sports and fitness are a particularly important in space every day the astronauts have to exercise for two hours to counteract any muscle loss caused by the minimal strain due to weightlessness for this they have to use stationary bikes and lift weights back on earth they have to continue that for a while and also strengthen their bones as these often get softer in space as well during the day the astronauts carry out the planned research and experiments and take care of any household chores at the station after having dinner together there is another conference with the ground stations to transmit the results of the day afterwards the astronauts are finished and can play board games watch movies call their families or enjoy the breathtaking view of the earth on the ISS the astronauts have single cabins for sleeping because of zero-gravity they have to strap themselves to their sleeping bag which is strapped to the wall even though they can't feel the pressure of a mattress in space some astronauts attach their sleeping bag to a board or the like in order to have a familiar feeling while falling asleep during a stay on the ISS almost every minute is carefully planned and interruptions due to illnesses are a big problem in space the immune system is weakened making astronauts more susceptible to disease which is why hygiene and cleanliness are of the highest priority there is also a small space pharmacy at the station which supplies the astronauts with various medications many astronauts are also plagued by the so-called astronaut disease because in weightlessness the organ of equilibrium does not work properly so that during the first few days most astronauts on the station will experience severe nausea there is also something called space fever during their stay in space the body temperature of the astronauts increases steadily until it settles at 38 degrees which strictly speaking means they live with a permanent fever with physical effort such as sports which we learned is mandatory in space this fever sometimes even rises to 40 degrees being an astronaut is probably the coolest job in the world but it's also pretty tough would you want to be an astronaut if you had the opportunity to be one write it in the comments until next time bye [Music] [Music] [Laughter]

Channel: BlueGum

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Keywords: bluegum, interesting, astronaut, nasa, everyday, life, life of an astronaut, space, universe, astronaut space, space x, international space station, wired, planet, earth, astronauts, cosmonaut, gravity, nasa astronaut, zero gravity, moon, space walk, space station, astronaut training, space travel

Id: eNbPoI8RPCQ

Length: 5min 29sec (329 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 27 2019