Montshire Minute: Life in Space

Originally aired during the week of November 23, 1998

Monday

"Help wanted: workers needed for new construction project. Minimum time commitment: five years. Long commute. Benefits include meals and transportation. And a cool looking space suit." Look for this advertisement now that the new International Space Station project is off the launching pad. Recently a Russian spacecraft carried the first of many ISS components into orbit, 220 miles above the earth. Construction of the space station will require dozens of shuttle flights and at least 144 spacewalks by American and Russian astronauts whose job it is to put all the pieces together. It will be like assembling a gigantic jigsaw puzzle in space. The station will eventually cover an area equal to two football fields and have living space equal to two 747 jet planes.

Tuesday

The United States and fifteen other countries are collaborating on the International Space Station project, which will result in about a dozen interlocking modules housing research labs and living quarters for astronauts. Ah, a room with a view! Well, before the space station is completed, astronauts will be busy working and living in these quarters. The day to day life of an astronaut is a lot different from what we're used to on earth. For one thing, there's no "up" in space. Or down, for that matter. At zero gravity, people are weightless. So astronauts can float through the cabin just by pushing off from a wall. It's sort of like swimming under water except you don't get wet. Sounds like a lot of fun, right? Well, there are drawbacks as well, which we'll talk about on tomorrow's program.

Wednesday

Living in zero gravity on a space station can be a real uplifting experience. In fact, if you don't hang on to something that's nailed down, you can find yourself "floating" in space. Sounds like a lot of fun, right? Well, astronauts report some drawbacks to weightlessness, too. Some feel congested, as if they have bad head colds. One Russian cosmonaut reported "Our faces have begun to swell... I keep bumping into things, mostly with my head." (Hmmm... maybe there's a connection there). Anyway, short-term hallucinations, loss of appetite, motion sickness and eye fatigue have been reported by astronauts in past space missions. Sleeping can also be a problem. We're used to just lying down, pulling up the covers and closing our eyes. But in space, you and your bedsheets will tend to float off in random directions. So astronauts need to strap themselves in, like buckling a seat belt.

Thursday

During the early days of space flights, astronauts would eat food from a toothpaste tube. In other words, presentation wasn't an important part of the dining experience. Today, astronauts are used to eating a variety of freeze-dried, vacuum-packed foods - add a little water, pop it in the oven and it's bon appetit! Of course, eating in zero gravity offers special challenges. Sometimes astronauts attach their plate to their knees with Velcro so their dinner doesn't drift off. Drinks are consumed with a straw to prevent liquids from floating freely throughout the ship. Eating in a weightless environment may never be as pleasurable as it is on earth. Fruits and vegetables loose their freshness quickly and astronauts report that even spicy dishes like chili tend to taste bland. But with 300 varieties of food available on the International Space Station, zero-gravity cuisine should be more enjoyable than ever!

Friday

With the advent of the new International Space Station, we've been talking this week about what everyday life is like for astronauts who spend long periods of time in space. Now here's a question we'd really like to know the answer to. How do astronauts go to the bathroom in space? Let's just say, new astronauts have to go through "toilet training" all over again. Actually, the toilet on the space shuttle looks a lot like yours at home. But the shuttle can't use a water flushing system, because there's no gravity right? So instead of flushing, this toilet works more like a big vacuum cleaner, sucking away solid waste and then vacuum-drying it. When urinating, waste is sucked away in a hose. The system is a big improvement over early space missions when astronauts wore diapers. Their waste was collected in bags and taken back to Earth.