8 Coolest Things Astronauts Do in the International Space Station

Orbiting 250 miles supra Earth, the International Space Station (ISS) is humanity’s location successful abstraction and houses astronauts to behaviour technological probe and observations. With each of the difficulties, excitement, and strangeness, what bash astronauts bash time to day?

ISS Has Executed Over 3,000 Experiments

The ISS serves arsenic the location and laboratory of astronauts successful abstraction for the duration of their mission—which you tin track and spot for yourself. There person been implicit 3,000 investigations conducted successful the ISS implicit the years, successful concern with galore countries crossed the world.

One of the goals of their studies is to recognize the effects of long-duration abstraction formation connected the quality body, arsenic good arsenic advancements successful medicine. Some of these experiments person adjacent improved drugs and cancer treatments, helped make air purification and h2o filtration products, and Earth reflection from the ISS has besides helped with disaster relief.

Astronauts Grow Vegetables connected the ISS

Did you cognize that gardening is imaginable wrong the ISS? Astronauts person already successfully grown lettuce, mustard greens, chili peppers, and radishes successful abstraction and adjacent eaten them. Gardening not lone provides caller nutrient for astronauts but besides contributes to our knowing of works maturation successful microgravity, which volition beryllium utile erstwhile we determine to colonize different planet.

The ISS has been continually serving humanity by providing scientists and researchers a spot to behaviour groundbreaking experiments and studies, further expanding quality knowledge. This besides includes increasing edible earthy materials for quality nutrient successful mentation for aboriginal Mars and different long-duration missions.

Astronauts Exercise 2.5 Hours a Day

A time successful an astronaut’s beingness astatine the ISS is packed with tasks from attraction of life-support systems to supervising technological experiments. But did you cognize that they besides person to workout for 2.5 hours each day? That’s right, 2.5 hours—looks similar adjacent astronauts can’t skip a time astatine the gym. They person an intensive workout regimen to offset the musculus and bony density nonaccomplishment they acquisition owed to microgravity.

The mode astronauts workout connected the ISS is by getting harnessed to a treadmill (to enactment successful spot portion running) and ft clips for stationary bikes. To simulate weightlifting, they usage the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) that uses vacuum cylinders to supply resistance.

Astronauts Experience 16 Sunsets a Day

One of the perks of being an astronaut is being capable to presumption our satellite Earth from a precise antithetic perspective. Astronauts get to acquisition 16 sunrises and sunsets each day, arsenic the ISS orbits Earth astatine a mind-boggling velocity of 17,500 mph, going astir each 90 minutes. That sounds similar a genuinely surreal acquisition for astronauts.

The Cupola, a dome-shaped reflection module connected the ISS, allows astronauts to instrumentality a panoramic presumption of abstraction and Earth. Aside from having that privilege, it’s besides a spot to show astronauts during spacewalks.

Spacewalks Can Last Up to 8 Hours

Spacewalking isn't a elemental locomotion successful the park. Officially known arsenic Extravehicular Activity oregon EVA, spacewalking is 1 of the astir exhilarating tasks an astronaut tin enactment in, but it’s not without risks.

Harmful radiation, vacuum, and utmost temperatures are conscionable immoderate of the dangers pressurized abstraction suits person to flooded to support astronauts from spacewalks that tin past up to 8 hours.

Astronauts “walk” extracurricular the ISS with information lines ever tethered to them astatine each times to execute their tasks. Essential enactment similar attraction of the ISS oregon upgrades are carried retired and whitethorn see installing caller star panels, attaching recently developed technology, oregon repairing definite instrumentality that is captious to the wellness of the ISS.

Since information is of paramount value for astronauts moving successful outer space, they deterioration SAFER backpack systems, on with the information tether, arsenic a backup for emergencies that let them to maneuver their mode backmost to the abstraction station. Rigorous preparations person been carried retired by these astronauts connected Earth for this sole purpose. They bid astatine the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL) of NASA to simulate weightlessness, grooming underwater for galore hours.

Astronauts Experiment With 3D Printing

3D printing experiments done successful space person shown immoderate advancement successful caller years. In fact, the archetypal 3D printer was sent to the ISS successful 2014. This inaugural brings anticipation erstwhile it comes to solving proviso issues during agelong abstraction journeys. If a replacement portion is needed during a abstraction mission, astronauts whitethorn beryllium capable to conscionable people it utilizing a 3D printer.

Another utile exertion of this is bioprinting. LamdaVision, a biotech company, is trying to make the archetypal protein-based artificial retina to reconstruct imaginativeness for the unsighted oregon visually impaired. They are moving connected this connected the ISS since microgravity tin assistance with the layering of the proteins and polymers, which tin beryllium perchance groundbreaking and pb to treating retinal degenerative diseases and more.

Astronauts Work With Robots and AI

NASA developed 3 cube-shaped robots named Honey, Queen, and Bumble (also referred to arsenic the Astrobee system) to assistance astronauts beryllium much businesslike and enactment probe connected the ISS.

They person been operational since 2019 and tin run autonomously (or beryllium remotely controlled) execute inventory management, papers experiments, and assistance with the attraction of machines. These robots are expected to play an indispensable relation successful taking attraction of spacecraft for aboriginal heavy abstraction missions erstwhile astronauts are absent.

One chill happening astir the Astrobee strategy is that it uses AI to autonomously execute tasks astir the ISS, and includes cameras and sensors to navigate astir the ISS without nonstop quality assistance. These robots are besides capable to observe radiation and c dioxide and cod information autonomously.

Microgravity Isn’t All Fun and Games

Though this 1 isn’t needfully a chill happening that astronauts bash successful space, it truly highlights however overmuch they spell done erstwhile moving astatine the ISS.

Astronauts brushwood important carnal wellness challenges owed to microgravity portion surviving and moving successful space. This includes some musculus and bony loss. When astronauts get backmost to Earth, they can’t basal connected their feet close distant and usually request clip to set to gravity again. If they've been successful abstraction for a agelong time, it tin beryllium weeks earlier they're connected their feet again.

But that’s conscionable the opening of however microgravity tin impact the quality body. Astronauts acquisition accelerated aging of disease, worsening eyesight, and tegument rashes. When it comes to bony loss, they become 1% little dense for each period spent successful abstraction (if you don’t person a rigorous workout routine).

Being an astronaut and moving retired of the ISS tin beryllium some physically and mentally demanding. The enactment tin beryllium intense, and the conditions of abstraction don’t truly marque it immoderate easier. Living unneurotic with conscionable a fig of radical successful a confined abstraction distant from friends and household yet takes its toll. Fortunately, video calls are imaginable from the ISS.

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Astronauts assistance supply humanity with invaluable cognition that tin further propulsion our boundaries not conscionable successful space, but besides connected Earth arsenic well—and they get to bash immoderate beauteous chill things portion doing it. There are besides a fig of things that we wouldn't person if it weren't for abstraction travel.