We take our planet for granted. It is difficult for us to imagine what life would be like if this planet would cease to exist. There are many astronauts who have lived in space for a considerable amount of time. Let’s find out what a day in space is like.
Time: Since the space shuttle is in space and at a high velocity, there is no way for the astronauts to tell the time for the day . Hence, all the astronauts follow a standard time and that is of the Mission Control Centres in Houston, Texas, or Moscow. This becomes convenient as it becomes easier for the astronauts to take directions from them. This centre plans the day and time of astronauts in space and advised what they have to do every day in space.
The Day Begins: For the astronauts living at the international space station, The day begins with a wake–up call from the control centre . They have 12-hours working shifts. Since water is not available in space, they have to use it very sparsely. That is why they do not have showers or proper baths in space. The astronauts simply use a cloth dipped in soapy water to clean themselves . Then the mission control tells them what has been planned for the day ahead.
Schedule: From the time that an astronaut gets sent into space, the mission control directs them on what has to be done on a daily basis. Most of their time is spent conducting experiments and making observations from space. At other times, regular maintenance has to be carried out at the space station or shuttle. Also, they have to clean up after themselves, so a part of their time is also spent doing mundane, daily household chores.
Silence: Space is made up of a vacuum. On Earth, even when it is silent, we hear many other sounds that we are used to . But in space, it is silent and becomes uncomfortable for astronauts. Hence, they often carry sound recordings of mundane sounds from earth to keep them company.
Food: In space, the astronauts are given three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner.AT other times of the day, snacks and drinks are also available to them. Since the amount of food that can be carried with them is limited, space food needs to be compact and crammed with all the nutrients that are required for a balanced diet. Some space food is specially made so it can be cooked in a low–gravity environment and machinery.
Exercise: We already know about weightlessness in space. Because of it, astronauts do not need to use their muscles a lot. However, this leads to wastage of muscle .this means that if an astronaut is to return to Earth after a long time in space, his/her muscles would not work as they have been inactive for such a long time. This astronaut would have to retrain his/her muscles for gravity. This is why they have a rigorous exercise programme that they have to strictly follow when in space. They use treadmills to run on and since they keep floating away, there are bungee cords that are used to hold them to the treadmill.
Other activities: On earth, we have a lot of ways to pass time, like going for a walk, going on a long drive or observing nature. In space, all these options are not available and hence astronauts find some indoor options to pass their time. They read or even watch TV to spend their leisure time. Occasionally, if the mission control schedules it, robotic activities and spacewalks also become possible.
Dreams: We dream of things that we see around us. Every once in a while we will dream of our memories or something surreal. Astronauts report that in the first few days, they dream a lot about their life on Earth but as time passes by, these dreams become rarer and rarer. They begin to dream more about their life in space. Every once in a while, a memory of Earth pops up in their subconscious, which the astronauts see as a dream.
Spaceflight Accidents: Since the advent of spaceflight, there have been many accidents in space or during space missions. In Particular, there have been over 20 astronaut and cosmonaut fatalities to date . There have been some astronauts fatalities during training for space missions. An example of this is the Apollo 1 launched fire that killed all three crew members.
Soyuz 1,24th April 1967: This one-day mission had been plagued by a series of mishaps. The Soyuz 1 in question was a new spacecraft type. This culminated with its parachute not opening properly after atmospheric re-entry
Fatalities: Vladimir Komarov was killed when the capsule hit the ground at high speed while landing
Cause: Parachute Failure
Soyuz 11,30th June 1971: The crew of Soyuz 11 were killed after undocking from space station Salyut 1. They were departing after a three-week stay. A cabin vent valve accidentally opened at service module separation. The recovery team found the crew dead. These are the only fatalities in space,i.e., ones to have died above the Karman line, thus far.
Fatalities : Georgi Dobrovolski ,Viktor Patsayev and Vladislav Volkov
Cause : Decompression
Challenger,28th January 1986: The Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed 73 seconds after liftoff. The strut at the rear end of the tank failed, allowing the top of the SRB to rotate into the top of the tank . Challenger was thrown sideways into the March 1.8 wind stream and broke up with the loss of all seven crew members. Any survivors of the breakup were killed when the largely intact cockpit hit the water at 320 km per hour.
Fatalities: Greg Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe, Ronald Mcnair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Michael Smith and Dick Scobee
Cause: Vehicle Disintegration on launch
Columbia,1st February 2003:
Damage to the shuttle’s thermal protection system (TPS) led to structural failure of the shuttle’s left wing and the spacecraft ultimately broke apart during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. Investigation revealed damage to the reinforced carbon leading edge wing panel. This had likely resulted from the impact of a piece of foam insulation that broke away from the external tank during the launch.
Fatalities: Rick D.Husband, William McCool, Michael P.Anderson, David M.Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel B.Clark, Ilan Ramon
Cause: Vehicle Disintegration during re-entry.