LIVING UP IN SPACE

MICROGRAVITY IS FUN

Cosmonauts and astronauts all agree that living in microgravity is fun. You can fly, float and even flip! It’s like moving in a swimming pool, only you are much, much lighter. You can push off wit a fingertip and move across the whole space module!

MICROGRAVITY IS FUN

But if you stay in microgravity for months your muscles become softer and your bones become thinner. So cosmonauts and astronauts must do a lot of exercising!

SLEEPING UNDER THE STARS

In microgravity there’s no need for a bed. You can snooze while floating upside down in the middle of a room. But there’s a chance you can bump against computer controls. So at night, the ISS’s residents strap themselves into sleeping bags that hang from the walls.

SLEEPING UNDER THE STARS

Sleeping in space is difficult at first because you don’t know what to do with your floating neck, but when you get used to it, it becomes very comfortable and relaxing.

SPACE FOOD

Supply spaceships bring meals to the station only once a month.

Years ago cosmonauts and astronauts had to squirt their food out of tubes – just like a toothpaste.

SPACE FOOD

Today’s ISS equipped with water, microwave ovens and refrigerators, allowing the people on board to eat more “normal” types of food, including fruit, vegetables and ice cream! One day cosmonauts hope to grow fresh fruit and vegetables in space.

SPACE FOOD

Some space foods, such as scrambled eggs and beef steaks, are sealed in special plastic bags. You just heat the bags before mealtime.

SPACE CLOTHERS

When cosmonauts and astronauts ride to and from the International Space Station on either a Russian Soyuz spaceship or a space shuttle, they have to wear special space suits.

But once on the ISS, they wear shirts, T-shirts, shorts and trousers. As for footwear, the ISS residents don’t need shoes or trainers, because they don’t walk or stand on their feet. They just put on socks to keep their feet warm

SPACE CLOTHES

KEEPING CLEAN

The station has neither a shower nor a sink. In microgravity water from a shower would fly in all directions and could damage the ISS computers. So instead of taking showers, space station residents use Russian “wetted towels”.

KEEPING CLEAN

They also use special shampoos to wash their hair. These shampoos don’t need to be washed off with water. You just wipe them off with a towel.

KEEPING CLEAN

The station lavatory is a Russian model that works like a vacuum cleaner, using a stream of air to pull waste into sealed containers. When the containers are full, they are sent off in small spaceships and burnt up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

WORK AND PLAY

The ISS cosmonauts and astronauts keep busy. You can find them doing science experiments,

WORK AND PLAY

walking in space to connect a new module,

WORK AND PLAY

or exercising on special gym equipment.

WORK AND PLAY

This robotic arm can lift and move modules and install heavy equipment. But when a robot alone can’t do the job, crew members have to put on their space suits and go outside.

WORK AND PLAY

When they have a free moment, they read books, watch films or DVD, listen to music, play cards and send e-mails to their friends and families.

WORK AND PLAY

They might just sit and look out of the window and enjoy the sight of the Earth below them, a view that no one ever tires of seeing or photographing.