A Day in Space

01Hello everyone, I'm actually in the Dragon spacecraft now called Endeavour.

02This is the vehicle that we flew up on and just wanted to give you some sounds of this vehicle.

03Alright, welcome to Safety Tour of Space Station.

04I'm your captain today.

05Right now I'm in the Node 1 module of the International Space Station, which is where we prepare and eat our meals.

06And Node 1 is right next to Node 3, which is where we typically conduct our exercise.

07We have a treadmill...

08Hi, Curious Universe listeners.

09We have a very exciting episode for you today to finish out Season 3 of NASA's Curious Universe.

10Right now, in August of 2021, there are seven people living and working aboard the International Space Station.

11A few weeks ago, we asked some of those astronauts, NASA's Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, and European Space Agency's Thomas Pasquet, to take their microphones and walk us, or should I say, float us, through a day in space.

12We're excited to share the audio that they recorded in this episode.

13So let's listen in on our explorers on the International Space Station, and find out what a day in space really sounds like.

14Station, this is Houston.

15Are you ready for the event?

16Houston, we are ready.

17Hello, I'm in one of the sleep stations on the International Space Station.

18We call it Crew Quarters.

19This is Shane Kimbrough.

20Shane is a retired U.S.

21Army officer and three-time space explorer.

22He served as the commander of the SpaceX Crew-2 flight to the space station in April 2021, and is a flight engineer for the current mission, Expedition 65.

23The International Space Station is made up of different nodes and modules, a lot like rooms or hallways in a house.

24Right now, he's in one of the crew cabin modules, taking us through the steps and sounds of his morning routine.

25This is where it's kind of our private space.

26It's where you get a chance to sleep, of course, but other things as well.

27The crew quarters on the space station look kind of like a padded pod.

28On the inside, there's a sleeping bag for each astronaut to zip into, and space for personal items like laptops.

29But here's the sound that this makes.

30As I get ready to, you know, come out or get in the sleeping bag, it's mounted to a wall, and it's connected to the wall so that we don't just bounce around in here.

31As we're trying to sleep at night, we want to get a good night's sleep.

32So that's why we mount this thing to the wall, and then you just climb in, zip it up, and then hopefully have a good night's sleep.

33Also in here, you have some personal items.

34Usually you have pictures of your family.

35I have a computer here that I can do my email on, or I can check the schedule out for the day.

36You can watch movies, you can watch TV shows, those kind of things as well in here.

37But it's a nice space.

38So when I close the door, it gets really quiet.

39It's a really private space.

40So you can kind of get away from everybody if you need to, which we all need at some point.

41And then when you open up the doors, then you get the sounds of the International Space Station, which in general, just some background fans running, it's not very loud at all, which is really impressive with all the things that we have going on up here.

42And there is so much going on up there.

43The International Space Station has been continuously occupied since November of 2000 by astronauts from 19 different countries.

44During that time, the station has evolved from an orbital outpost into a full-fledged orbiting laboratory.

45An acre of solar panels power the orbiting lab, which is larger than a six-bedroom house, containing around eight miles of wire, weaving through the station, keeping all the science running.

46We come out of our crew quarters and float through the lab here.

47You can hear some fans a little louder here than our sleep stations for sure.

48And then once we get through the U.S.

49lab, we'll be heading into Node 1, which is where I usually get my breakfast ready to go before I go do anything else.

50All right, we're in the galley now, which is in Node 1.

51And I'll give you a few sounds of what it's like to go get our food out of our pantries.

52So these are your metal containers that we get from the Russians, and we just pull out our food.

53I'll pull out some oatmeal today and then put that back.

54And do the same thing with the drink.

55I'm going to have a hint of orange to drink.

56So then we come over here.

57We have packaging that we have most of our food in.

58I'll open this up.

59I'll hydrate it here with our machine.

60Put in 75 milliliters.

61You hear kind of a click when it's done.

62And then you know it's safe to...

63We always put this in the off position so that if water's coming out, it doesn't spray you.

64It's a good safety tip for us.

65And this oatmeal takes about five to ten minutes to kind of be ready to go.

66Some food on the International Space Station doesn't need to be rehydrated because it can be sent up in the natural form, like fruit and brownies.

67But most of their food starts out dehydrated.

68And you can't just sprinkle on extra seasonings as you want.

69Shaking salt particles in space could mean trouble for instruments on station.

70Instead, the seasonings come in liquid form.

71So we'll head over and I'll show you what I do in the mornings as well to just get ready for the day.

72Brush my teeth, go to the restroom, that sort of thing.

73Everybody has their own little station where they keep all their items.

74The sounds you hear are coming from all the tinkering that has to be done to get Shane's morning items ready to go.

75With everything on station experiencing the condition of microgravity, things need to be latched down to keep from floating away, and unlatched when you're ready to use them.

76Now let me just briefly show you over here to the restroom.

77And I won't only show you a whole lot, but I just want to turn it on so you can hear the sound that it makes.

78So that's the fans cranking up.

79It's good to use the restroom as the system cranks up and while you're using it.

80I'll just shut it off.

81I hear it winding down now.

82Microgravity can make doing things we normally do here on Earth really complicated in space.

83The first modules of the orbiting laboratory were sent into space in 1998.

84And since then, scientists have worked to create and upgrade the different systems humans need to live in space.

85In upcoming space missions for the Artemis program, NASA plans to build another outpost.

86This time, it will be orbiting our moon.

87The research we're doing in low Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station continues to provide important new information on what humans need in order to survive and thrive in space.

88The ISS is a critical stepping stone for NASA's further exploration of deep space.

89The other NASA astronaut we mic'd up for this episode was Megan McArthur.

90Megan is an oceanographer who flew her first mission in 2009 on space shuttle Atlantis to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

91She serves as pilot of the SpaceX Crew-2 mission.

92And she's also a flight engineer for Expedition 65.

93Right now, I'm in the Node 1 module of the International Space Station, which is where we prepare and eat our meals.

94And Node 1 is right next to Node 3, which is where we typically conduct our exercise.

95We have a treadmill and the advanced resistive exercise device in Node 3.

96So the sound that you're hearing is the sound of the treadmill.

97Let's listen for a minute.

98Exercising is important in space because it prevents bone and muscle loss while in microgravity.

99So one of the things that we have also in Node 1 in the deck is a toolbox that people are getting into all day long to get tools they need to accomplish various tasks.

100So Aki is about to put away a socket that was used earlier.

101Aki is Aki Hoshide, a Japanese engineer, astronaut and current commander of the International Space Station.

102He works for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency called JAXA.

103As Thomas begins setting up for his workout, let's pause and listen to how the device sounds as it's getting prepared for activity.

104Thomas works for the European Space Agency, or ESA, and was born in Rouen, France.

105Okay, between sets, what do you usually like to listen to during your workouts?

106Some really cool music, cranked up, sometimes by Megan, sometimes carefully curated by Mark, sometimes just random music from the internet.

107All right, well, we'll let you get to that.

108Enjoy your workout.

109Even though the names and faces change, people from all around the world have been living and working together continuously while they're sharing the close quarters of the International Space Station.

110A day in the life of an astronaut includes many of the normal things we do here on Earth.

111Exercising, eating, chatting with coworkers.

112But the majority of an astronaut's day is spent doing important research that can only be done in space.

113They also participate in video interviews with schools and the media.

114On this day, the astronauts kicked off an experiment growing peppers for the first time in space, performed combustion research, and even set up a camera that allows middle school students on Earth to take pictures of our home planet from space.

115I'm in the US lab now, which is a location that we do a lot of experiments, obviously.

116It's also a location for some of our exercise.

117There's always an ambient sound of fans and pump noise in here.

118This is probably one of the loudest places on the International Space Station.

119And like I said, we conduct science in here.

120We also conduct a lot of our conferences with the ground.

121We communicate with ground throughout the day for all of the activities that we do.

122They give us permission to proceed in different places.

123They answer our questions.

124They maybe make changes to procedures.

125So we really need that communication with them throughout the day.

126And it's very important that we're able to hear that.

127While they work, space station astronauts are talking to mission control centers around the world.

128Here's Shane checking in on some of the research he's conducting.

129Houston Station on 24AAA.

130Go ahead, Shane.

131Yeah, yeah, I'm ready to get going.

132Waiting.

133Just checking with you on step 1.1.1.

134Stating is in place in 1.1.

135You gotta go.

136Copy, thanks.

137There are also opportunities for astronauts to connect with people on the ground, to hear from curious space enthusiasts, and talk about their life on station.

138Hi, my name is Olivia, and I'm from North Carolina.

139My question is, what does the Earth look like from outer space?

140Thanks for the question.

141The Earth looks absolutely amazing.

142It's really beautiful.

143The colors are just striking, no matter if you're looking at the Bahamas like a beach or the desert.

144Being able to communicate in space is critical, not only with the ground, but with each other.

145And with all the background noise of fans and systems running to keep things operational, it can get pretty noisy on station.

146Research projects like the ISS acoustics experiment have been conducted on station to monitor these sounds, and make sure things don't get too loud for the astronauts.

147One of the things that we talk about before we come into space is what the sounds of the environment are going to be like.

148We don't really exactly model on Earth the amount of background noise that we have up here, but we do work in a variety of noisy environments as part of our training.

149So, for example, we fly in T-38 jets, which are quite loud, of course, on their own.

150And so, thinking about how to communicate effectively in a loud environment is really important.

151When I first came to space station, the sound that surprised me was actually here in the lab, and it's the thermal amine scrubber.

152And if we're lucky, we might hear it make this noise, but I was floating through the lab directly underneath it, and it makes kind of this big, it's almost like an exhale.

153It sounded like something very large exhaling right next to me, and it really startled me.

154Fortunately, Shannon Walker, who was outgoing crew, had been up here for six months.

155She said, oh, don't worry about that, it does that all the time.

156The unique features of the space station, like microgravity and proximity to extreme temperatures, create a prime opportunity for experimentation in the different labs.

157Since the year 2000, there have been over 3,000 experiments conducted on the International Space Station, and each astronaut plays a role in making sure these experiments are successful.

158On any given day, they could be developing new treatments for diseases, or even testing concrete for future space structures.

159Today, Shane is working on agriculture in space.

160On his last trip to the station, Shane grew lettuce, and made a bit of a name for himself as a microgravity gardener.

161If all goes according to plan, this experiment could add some spice to the astronauts' daily lives.

162Let's listen in.

163All right, I'm working on plant habitat now, which is going to be back in here.

164I'm going to refill some water into that system so we can grow some chili peppers.

165I'm going to fill some water into that system.

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196I'm going to fill some water into that system.

197But that's probably the sound that I miss the most from Earth is really the lack of sound.

198It's just that quiet.

199And we don't ever get true quiet up here.

200And so we listen to music or maybe we watch programs with headphones in to try to really be able to hear well what we're trying to listen to.

201The other things, the other sounds I miss from Earth are natural sounds.

202So the sound of rain or the sound of really strong wind.

203Those are some of the things that I miss from sounds on Earth.

204And of course, birds singing, you know, that kind of thing.

205We don't get any of that up here.

206Living in space is a dream come true for these explorers.

207But it can also be challenging.

208You're isolated away from your family and can only access a limited living space.

209With such a small team working so closely together, it's important to keep morale up.

210And over the years, astronauts have found some pretty fun ways to shake things up.

211This is astronaut Chris Cassidy on a mission in 2020.

212Having our Russian crewmates over for dinner.

213So preparing a bunch of drinks.

214Apple cider.

215Grapefruit juice.

216Lemon lime drink.

217Another grapefruit juice.

218Here are astronauts aboard the station marking an important birthday celebration.

219Happy birthday to you.

220Happy birthday to you.

221In NMX 61.

222Happy birthday to Drew Hall.

223In NMX 61.

224Happy birthday to you.

225Happy birthday to you.

226Happy birthday to you.

227Happy birthday to you.

228Happy birthday to you.

229Happy birthday to you.

230Happy birthday to you.

231Happy birthday to you.

232Happy birthday to you.

233Happy birthday to you.

234Happy birthday to you.

235Happy birthday to you.

236Happy birthday to you.

237Happy birthday to you.

238Happy birthday to you.

239Happy birthday to you.

240Happy birthday to you.

241Tomas, if you wouldn't mind, would you play us out?

242All right.

243I think that concludes our tour.

244Thanks a lot for flying with us today on Air ISS.

245This is NASA's Curious Universe.

246This episode was written and produced by Christina Dana.

247Our executive producer is Katie Atkinson.

248The Curious Universe team includes Maddie Arnold, Kate Steiner, and Michaela Sosby, with support from Emma Edmond and Priya Mittal.

249Our theme song was composed by Matt Russo and Andrew Santaguida of System Sounds.

250Special thanks to Aaron Anthony, Rachel Barry, Erica McNamee, Nicole Rose, Sarah Smith, and the Johnson Space Center team.

251Still curious about NASA?

252You can send us questions about this episode or a previous one, and we'll try to track down the answers.

253You can email a voice recording or send a written note to NASA-CuriousUniverse at mail.nasa.gov.

254Go to nasa.gov slash curiousuniverse for more information.

255Thank you for tuning in to the third season of NASA's Curious Universe.

256We've enjoyed taking you along with us as we've explored even more of our wild and wonderful universe, from exoplanets to plasma and more.

257We're taking a break now, but we'll be back before you know it.

258Until then, you can continue exploring with NASA by visiting nasa.gov.

259You can also follow NASA on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

260And find more NASA podcasts like Gravity Assist and On a Mission in your favorite podcast app, or by visiting nasa.gov slash podcasts.

261We'll be back to NASA.

262We'll be back to NASA.

263We'll be back to NASA.

264We'll be back to NASA.

265We'll be back to NASA.

266We'll be back to NASA.

267We'll be back to NASA.

268We'll be back to NASA.

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