A Day in the Life of an Astronaut in Space

THE ANNOUNCEMENT DAY Hello everyone, and welcome to my space vlog! I’m so excited because I have a big announcement to make! After completing years of training, the day I have been waiting for all my life is finally here! I was always happy to be among the 350 people who have been selected to be NASA astronauts, you know. And here’s a fun fact for you; the “Original Seven” is included in that number. So, it’s fair to say I’m in the legends league. But the great news is that now I’m finally done with the virtual reality lab, and I’m actually going to go to space! There are so many things I need to do to get ready for my first mission, so I’ll keep today’s vlog short. But get ready to hear all about my space adventures in the upcoming days.

THE DAY BEFORE THE LAUNCH You would think the day before the launch would be a busy one for the crew, right? But, it’s actually quite relaxed in terms of things to do. Since the upcoming days are going to be stressful, NASA lets us spend time with some of our selected family members or friends who have been cleared to be near us during our preflight quarantine. We also get to stay at a beach house they own. Is this a dream job or what? But the most important thing we are advised to do today is to get a good night’s sleep! That is if you can, but no pressure. I’m going to try and do that now, so off to bed I go! It’s a good thing that we were banned from drinking coffee 24 hours prior to the launch. Otherwise, I bet all the caffeine would prevent me from having peaceful dreams...

LAUNCH DAY Today is the big day! First of all, although it’s one of my favorite songs, I’m trying to avoid listening to David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” because ain’t nobody wants any sad vibes... Secondly, coffee is still not permitted for breakfast on the morning of the launch because of its diuretic properties. Having to use the restroom all the time can be bit of a problem when you’re going off to space in the cockpit, you know...

This may be a bit shocking for you, but other than all this the astronauts have a significant chunk of downtime during a launch day. Before we depart for the launch pad, we do a final check and head to the restrooms for a pre-launch pee. Then it’s time to climb into the cockpit. Many of us actually take a nap once we are there as the system goes through thousands of prelaunch checks, including air-to-ground voice checks with Launch Control and Mission Control.

And here’s a fun fact for you, we wear adult diapers during this time, just in case. Alright now, let’s eliminate talking about elimination for now. Welp, now that everything is checked, it’s time to start the main engine. Prepare for the liftoff! 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Woo-Hoo!

A DAY IN SPACE Welcome to space! I was going to say I will “walk you” through what a day for an astronaut on a space mission looks like now. But up here, I will “float you” through it...heh heh. First of all, every minute and every second of an astronaut’s day in space is planned. From eating and brushing our teeth to working and sleeping, every move we make is based on a schedule. The things we have to do are planned down to five-minute increments by a team in mission control called Ops Planner. This is crucial because these schedules show what is happening and who is involved with what at any given time on the Space Station. But worry not, it’s not all work and no play. Even if those are according to a schedule, too, we still have free time to ourselves.

The concept of a “day” aboard an orbiting spacecraft is a little bit different than what you might imagine. Every 24 hours, astronauts on board the international space station experience 15 sunrises and 15 sunsets as the station moves around the world. But for millions of years, humans have been living according to a 24-hour daily cycle. Our brains and bodies follow the circadian rhythm of waking and sleeping. That’s why astronauts work and sleep to similar schedules that match these cycles and rhythms because anything other than that would have us living in a state of permanent jet lag. Accordingly, an overall day for us looks like this; the workday is from approximately 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time and it includes three meals and two and a half hours of exercise.

THE MORNING ROUTINE Our space “morning” schedule is sort of similar to our Earth morning schedule. We are awoken by an alarm, and we begin our hygiene routine with the stuff that is provided for us in our hygiene kits given by NASA. Those include “rinseless” shampoos that require very little water since there are no genuine showers in space. The funny thing is the water we use floats away during this...

Each of us is allowed to take our choice of products with us in these kits including cosmetics and toothpaste. There are razors to shave or clippers or scissors to give ourselves or each other haircuts if necessary. We just have to make sure to vacuum up that hair, so it doesn’t fly in our faces later as we’re working.

THE FOOD We don’t skip breakfast. It’s the first of the three meals we have including lunch and dinner. When it comes to how much we eat it really depends on the calorie necessities of each person. One great thing is we don’t really have to cook or do the dishes since the meals are already cooked on Earth and come in disposable packages. You should know space food has improved greatly in taste and variety since Apollo missions in which astronauts ate purely freeze-dried food for days.

THE SPACE WORK After we’re done eating, it’s time to get to work. Each of us settle down to the assigned tasks of the day. These assignments range from supervising experiments to performing routine maintenance on station equipment. Our work also includes checking projects that are controlled from the ground as well as participating in experiments ourselves to figure out how well our bodies adapt to living in space for long periods of time.

SPACE GYM Doing exercise is an essential part of our day. We actually commit hours every day to fitness. Normally on Earth, our bodies are constantly active because they’re working against gravity to move. But with very limited gravity in space, movement is easier and doesn’t require much work or energy. So, astronauts who spent a long period of time in space and didn’t continue to train physically would lose a lot of muscle, which would leave them feeling weak once they return home. That’s why it is vital for us to stay physically active to prevent bone and muscle loss. It also helps relieve what we call “space snuffles” that are caused by body fluids accumulating in the head due to not being tugged downward by gravity.

Our regular exercise options include cardio using a treadmill or a bike. We do some lift weighting, too. And to do all these, we have to strap ourselves down to the exercise machines because if we don’t, we’ll float away, and our efforts would be for nothing.

FREE TIME Mission organizers on Earth make time every day for us to relax and have fun here in space. This is when we write emails, watch movies, or even play an instrument. But to be honest, the most popular pastime in space is looking out the window to watch the Earth go by beneath you! There are also spectacular sunrises and sunsets to enjoy, which occur every 45 minutes as we orbit. So, it’s fair to say there’s no time to get bored! By the way, just like earthlings, we get weekends off, too, to recharge.

SWEET DREAMS It’s important for us to get a good night’s sleep to have energy for the next day’s tasks. However, here in space, we can’t climb into our beds. We have sleeping bags instead, which are attached to the wall to keep us secure. If they were not, we would be floating around all night — which sounds neither safe nor restful... Okay, I gotta go, because I gotta go.