December 2008 Archives

Blog Editor's Note: We have received the latest special dispatch from Dr. Magnus. This one should take a while to digest. Enjoy.

MAGNUS:

I am going to try to describe a typical day of life on the ISS. Many people have asked this question, I imagine wondering what everyday life is like in such an unusual place and environment. First and foremost I need to point out that our days, all of them, are planned by a huge, world-wide group of people on the ground. The planning for an increment (ours is Expedition 18, for example) actually starts up to a year in advance. The long term planners from every country get together and start mapping out how to fit in all of the work priorities that everyone has. These priorities can range from installing new equipment, getting certain science experiments done, getting maintenance done, spacewalks, robotics and system work that the ground does all of the time. All of the objectives have to fit together so that there is no interference and that crew and ground controller time is used efficiently. This takes a lot of work and a lot of coordination. The end result is that before I even launched I had a big picture view of what I would be doing every week while I was up here as well as what the major objectives of the mission were.
 
How does this relate to a typical day? Well we have a scheduling program on board that has in it all of the details that we need to know in order to do the days work. It tells us when we should go to sleep, when we should get up, when we should exercise, when to eat our meals, when and what information we need to do our tasks. This  program is our main way of communicating and coordinating our day with the ground. It sounds constraining, doesn't it? There is some flexibility for us to manage parts of our day--most tasks do not have to be done at the time listed on the schedule. If something has to be done at a certain time, say because ground controlling is required, or there exists some constraint that we need to know about, we have a color code scheme that alerts us to do that particular task definitely at the time shown on the schedule. It is a rather comfortable system; from the ground's viewpoint they have a way to document everything that they need to have finished that day and from a crew viewpoint you have the flexibility to control your time and use it in the most efficient manner.

With that background, I can begin to describe a typical day.

The posts here might be a little less frequent through the end of the holidays. But here's a question from Adam:

What is the longest amount of time you have been in space?
-- Adam (Team Spirit)

MAGNUS: My first mission was a short one, only about 11 days. On this mission, I will be spending about four months in space. Some people stay on the order of six months. The record is just over a year and was set by a Russian cosmonaut who stayed on the MIR space station that long.

Here's another answer to a question asked during an amateur radio station exchange.

A while ago, I told you about the ARISS program, which allows astronauts to talk with people around the world using amateur radio station onboard the ISS. I answered this question about experiments in an earlier conversation, and thought you might like to hear what I said, too.

Here's something I bet you didn't know. The International Space Station has an amateur radio station onboard, and we can use it to talk to folks back on Earth. It's all part of ARISS, a volunteer program that connects students via amateur radio communications with the ISS on-orbit crew.

Blog Editor's Note: Here is the next installment of Sandy's journal, as promised yesterday...

Well, I have been here for almost a month and finally things have slowed down enough that I am getting to spend time at the window occasionally. We do get Earth observation targets every day from the ground. These targets are chosen for science reasons so that scientists on Earth can study the changes in our planet over the years. When you think about it humans have been taking pictures in space for 50 years now--small on the scale of the age of the planet and the types of changes that occur, but still long enough to have gained some understanding of the Earth and her cycles. Nevertheless, these are popular moments in our schedule because it gives us a legitimate reason to stop what we are doing and run (float!) to the window and take pictures.

One of the more frequent questions that we get when we come back from space (besides, "How DO you go to the bathroom up there?") is, "What does the Earth look like from orbit?" It is actually hard to come up with the appropriate adjectives to adequately describe the beautiful ball that is our planet. You hear often "magnificent," "beautiful," "serene," and "warm." The view is all of this and more. And the nature of the view you get changes with which window that you look out.

Blog Editor's Note: We have received two special dispatches from the ISS via NASA. In this first letter from Dr. Magnus, she attempts to address many of your curious questions about what it's like to live in space. (There is a little bit of a lag between the time when she writes the notes in orbit and the time it takes for us to receive them and post them on Earth.) Tomorrow, we'll post the second of the new dispatches.

MAGNUS: Well, the Shuttle has left (and has, a matter of fact, safely landed) and we are getting some much needed rest. I am also getting settled in. My big task was to figure out which of my clothing and crew provisions to keep out and handy and how to stow them in my sleep quarters. Usually in your bedroom you have a chest of drawers or a closet to keep things in; my sleep quarters, my private space, is about the size of a really small closet!  In it I have my sleeping bag and also various things hanging on the wall with Velcro and straps. I ended up paring what I needed on a daily, or near-term, basis to one container of stuff which I have tied down to the floor of my sleep station. Everything else, about 2 more similar containers of stuff, I have stowed away and made a record of their locations so I do not forget! 

A lot of people are curious to know what it is like to live in space. It is hard to describe but I have been giving it some thought as I go about my work here, and I hope I have come up with a thought exercise that will help you get a glimmer of how everyday tasks have to be carried out. So...imagine living in a place where you can never set anything down. If you set it down it floats away and disappears. Nothing is stable. Take any activity that you do throughout the day and think about how much you rely on setting things down. In the morning, you get out of bed. Your bed is sitting on the floor, held there by gravity. You go to your drawer to get out your clothes. Your clothes are being held down in the drawer because of gravity. You take off your PJ's and throw them on the floor, the bed, or in the clothes hamper. They stay put because of gravity. You get the idea, continue the thought experiment. As you continue to map your day, you will realize how much you are taking advantage of gravity. In our world up here on ISS we do not have that advantage. 

Blog Editor's Note: We've got a backflow of comments and questions, but we're still hoping to get a lot of them answered as the weeks float by. (In the meantime, we want to give a special shout out to Spencer and Malia from Rountree Elementary. Tell Mrs. Hopkins that you deserve bonus points on general principles, and you should really get a longer recess.)

Here is today's question:

Do you ever have time for fun activities while in space? And, if so, what do you do?
- Clayton (Team Apollo)

MAGNUS: Yes, sometimes. During periods of time that the shuttle is at the Space Station, we are very busy and do not have much free time. I remember, though, having one half day off and during that time I looked out the window and did gymnastics and explored the station. Since I am now going to be here for four months or so, I will have lots of time to do my own thing. I am hoping to take some great pictures of the Earth, get in some extra exercise, and take some videos describing life in space. It is never boring to just stop and stare out the window!

P.S. Check out what happens to my hair in zero gravity in the photo accompanying this story.

What is the temperature outside the ISS? In your space suit?
-- Alex (Team Spirit)

MAGNUS: Well it depends on whether you are in sun or shade. It is very hot in the sun and very cold in the shade. Think about what an interesting design problem this is for designing a space suit. You have to come up with a material that can take +200F and -200F, for example, and still keep the person inside it from being too hot or too cold. Also, all of the electronics boxes and systems that are located on the exterior of the space station have to be able to survive such extreme temperatures changes. Something to think about when you get to your thermodynamics class!

Blog Editor's Note: Thanks again to all of you who have been leaving comments and submitting questions. Dr. Magnus will be orbiting the Earth for quite a while yet, so stay tuned for more special dispatches sent from the ISS. Maybe she'll answer your question soon! In the meantime, we'll continue to bring you questions from last summer's Aerospace Camp kids along with Sandra's answers.

Is it hard to control your body in zero gravity?
-- Brad (Team Atlantis)

MAGNUS: You have to move very slowly, especially at first. It is much easier to start motion than to stop it. I was amazed at how obvious Newton's Laws of Motion were in zero gravity! Once you get used to moving around and adapted to the environment, you get a feel for how much force to input to move and in what direction to input that force.

What is your favorite meal in space?
-- Roxann (Team MIR)

MAGNUS: I mentioned some of my favorites before, but I forgot to mention tortillas. Tortillas are great in space and they are very useful. We take tortillas instead of bread because bread crumbs. Think about what would happen if you had bread in orbit and it would be constantly falling apart into crumbs. They would not fall to the floor, but rather float around and possibly even get in your eyes, which would be bad. Tortillas do not crumb and you can use them to make "sandwiches." One thing that is really good is to put cheese -- it is kind of like a spreadable cheese in a small packet -- in the tortilla and add a bit of taco sauce. Very good!

Can you get sick easily in space?
-- Team Liberty Bell question

MAGNUS: Well, if you mean right away when you get there and you are trying to get used to zero gravity, I would have to say yes, you can. It is very important to move slowly as you are getting used to weightlessness and especially do not move your head too fast. Your inner ear, which helps you maintain balance on Earth, uses gravity to help it. Without gravity, your sense of balance from the inner ear gets messed up and your brain is trying to process these confused sensors along with what your eyes are sending back (there is no reference for up anymore!). After a few days, though, your body adapts and things are fine. Over the long term, it is possible to get sick, maybe like a cold or something, but it does not happen often. In order to stay on the ISS for a long period of time, we have to be in really good health. They are trying to minimize the possibility of a major medical problem occurring on the station because that would cause us to have to abandon the station and return home (for medical treatment). It turns out, though, that something about zero gravity causes a person's immune system to be depressed, so you are more susceptible to sickness. But since it is a closed loop system, you do not get new germs introduced so often.

How difficult is it to maintain the ISS?
-- John T. (Team Explorer)

MAGNUS: The actual work is not that difficult, mainly because when the ISS was designed a lot of thought went into how you would fix things in orbit. You have to think about access to the various parts, for example, along with what to do with loose bolts and screws. Here on the Earth, they drop to the ground and you can find them. In orbit, if they get loose, they pretty much float away and disappear. So the engineers designed the bolts and screws to be captive so that you can unscrew them and release them but they stay put in their holes and do not float off. You cannot just go to the hardware store to buy what you need when something breaks, or to get a replacement part. People have to do analysis and lots of thinking ahead of time to figure out what kind of parts and equipment to send and store on the ISS so that if/when something breaks it is possible to replace it. This means that as the equipment is designed you have to figure out how long the various parts will last and where the probable failures are, so you can plan for that and send those parts early to the ISS. Another aspect to consider is whether you design a piece of equipment to be completely replaced or design it such that it can be fixed by taking it apart and replacing the small parts. It gets very complicated, but it is a very interesting engineering problem.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Now back to the questions...

How do you shower in space?
-- Matt (Team Gemini)

MAGNUS: Actually, we do not take showers; we take sponge baths. Gravity is very helpful when it comes to taking showers. You get in, turn on the water and it falls on you since gravity is pulling it down where it goes to the drain and disappears. Without gravity, this system does not work so well. If you turned on the shower, the water would come out and just stay attached to the shower head and grow a bigger and bigger clump of water. If you managed to detach it, and float it towards you, you would have to be careful to keep it away from your nose and mouth (so you could still breathe). Also, to get rid of the water once you were done with it, you would either have to use a towel to wipe it all up or perhaps turn on some air flow and create a way to move the water out that way. It is tricky designing a shower in space!