Space Life Magazine

Seeing the Earth from the Outside

Cars cruising down the road. Farm animals grazing in the pasture. Children playing in the park. Professionals waiting for subway trains. These are scenes from a typical day on Earth. Far above these daily scenes, an immense galaxy awaits our exploration. Above our planet, the space station is docked, hovering above Earth as astronauts explore outer space. Living on the space station is much different than living on Earth. Astronauts train for life on the space station, but it still must be an adjustment when they enter the space station. Everything is different there, such as eating, breathing, sleeping, and exercising.

Zero gravity makes sleeping quite different…imagine sleeping standing up. When an astronaut sleeps on the space station, instead of a bed they have a sleeping bag that is mounted to the wall. You have to make sure your arms are restrained so your arms don’t float above your head while you sleep. When you wake up in the morning, instead of looking out your window to see the sky, you are treated to a wonderful view of the Earth. Not many people get to experience the view of the Earth from outer space.

Even living on a space station, you will still need to shower and keep up on personal hygiene. Instead of a shower or a bath, you will be required to take sponge baths with a washcloth. Although you may wish they had a bath, the water would not stay in the tub, and for that matter, you wouldn’t be able to sit down without restraints. When you brush your teeth on the space station, you must converse every drop of water, since you have limited water resources. Using the restroom on the space station is also different than on Earth. You have to be use special restraints, so you won’t float off the toilet. Then the toilet is flushed using air instead of water. Liquid waste is dumped in outer space, while solid material is dried and disposed of when back on Earth.

Since there is no gravity, your muscles will weaken. No slacking off on the exercise routine here! Your space station will be equipped with fitness machines. Exercising is different on the space station. You can’t just hop on the machine and start walking; you must strap yourself on the machine. Without this step, your legs won’t stay on the pedals…not many calories burned that way!

After all that exercise, you do get hungry on the space station. To eat, you have a stash of dehydrated meals. Pick something that sounds appetizing, prepare it in the microwave, and enjoy. It may not be home cooking, but it is edible. Finish off your meal with some freeze-dried ice cream.

Living on the space station requires some novel ways of getting your essentials. In the space station, you recycle your air and water. The space station is equipped with state -of -the -art technology that helps conserve and reuse everything. Special machines help gather the condensation from breath and sweat, and convert this into water. The same is true for oxygen. Other specialized machines convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. As you breathe, your carbon dioxide is being converted into new oxygen, and your water molecules from your breath are converted into water for you to drink.

As you can see, living on the space station is quite different than Earth. Everything from eating, sleeping, and exercising requires modifications to allow for the lack of gravity. Living on the space station requires a person to be the ultimate environmentalist, recycling the air they breathe and the water they drink.

Categories: Astronauts