Here you are hundreds of miles away looking at the rainforest and the desert, but you’re looking at it from a pretty sterile environment.
Astronaut Leroy Chiao
It is worth nothing that most use their downtime in zero gravity to gaze out the window at Earth. A popular pastime while orbiting the Earth is simply looking out the window. Astronauts on board the space shuttle can look out the cockpit windows and watch the Earth below or the deep blackness of space. Inside the International Space Station, crewmembers have numerous windows they can look out. Astronauts often comment on their fascination and awe as they look at the Earth spin beneath them with its multiple shades and textures. Sunsets and sunrises are also very spectacular, occurring every 45 minutes above the Earth's atmosphere. Astronaut Leroy Chiao shared a lot of experience about his daily life in the International Space Station with journalists. According to Chiao, “Here you are hundreds of miles away looking at the rainforest and the desert, but you’re looking at it from a pretty sterile environment”. “The thing I missed the most was nature, the smell of grass, being around trees and seeing birds and other animals,” says Chiao. He also took the first documented photo of the Great Wall of China from space.
The Cupola (pronounced “kyoo-pel-ah”) is a seven-paned geometric dome that boasts the biggest spacecraft window ever: a central, circular pane with a 31-inch diameter. Combined with six other trapezoidal windows, the device offers a nearly unimpeded view of space and the big blue marble zipping by 220 miles below.
On board the space station, crewmembers have many opportunities to relax and play. Like most people who work full time, they get weekends off. On any given day, crewmembers can watch movies, read books, play cards and talk to their families. They have an exercise bike, a treadmill and various equipments help them to keep their bodies in shape.