5 Fun Things To Do Without Gravity
Astronauts onboard the International Space station are typically active for at least 9 ½ hours per day doing science, exercising and maintaining systems. Excluding scheduled time for sleep and lunch, astronauts have only 4 hours of free time during the work week, and that includes time for meals and general hygiene.
Even with a loaded calendar, the few who have such an opportunity to live in the microgravity environment find ways to make the most of this experience. Here are just a few of their favorite things about living in space:
One of the most self-explanatory (and most fun!) aspects of living in space for the astronauts is “flying”. In space there is no up or down, so there is no floor or ceiling. There are rails throughout the space station that astronauts use to push themselves among the modules.
Astronauts actually describe the food on the space station as quite tasty! In part, that’s because they have a large role in choosing their own meals. Over time though, a lot of astronauts experience desensitized taste buds from the shifting fluid to their head. Toward the end of their expedition, spicy foods tend to be their favorites because of this phenomenon.
Liquid behaves very differently in space than it does on Earth. Astronauts cannot simply pour a cup of coffee into a mug. Without gravity, it would stick to the walls of the cup and would be very difficult to sip. Most of the time, astronauts fill a bag with liquid and use a special straw with a clamp to keep the contents from flying out.
The space station crew occasionally gets downtime which they can spend however they please. Sometimes they watch a movie, read a book or take photos of Earth from the Cupola windows. Other times they invent games to play with each other, and each crew tends to come up with new games. Sometimes it can be hitting a target, flying from one end of the station to the other fastest or playing zero-gravity sports.
Preparing an executing a spacewalk can take around 8 to 12 hours, and can be a jam-packed schedule. Spacewalkers have to be focused on the task at hand and sticking to the timeline. That said, they can still catch a spare moment to see the Earth 250 miles below. Many astronauts describe that view from a spacewalk as one of the most beautiful sights in their lives.
Watch Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren perform a spacewalk on Oct. 28 at 8:15 a.m. EDT live on NASA Television.
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