What It’s Like to Work in Space: Inside an Astronaut’s Routine

Working in space is more than floating in microgravity. Astronauts train intensely and use advanced tools to not only survive, but also conduct advanced scientific research. Given the difficulties, how do they pull it off?

An Astronaut’s Workplace

Orbiting 250 miles above Earth, the International Space Station (ISS) is a the workplace and home of astronauts on long-duration missions in space. You can track and see the ISS yourself if you want to take a look

Just like a house on Earth, the ISS is equipped with both living and working areas. This is a unique environment where microgravity is a constant factor that influences every aspect of daily life. According to NASA, the ISS is bigger than a six-bedroom house with six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms, a gym, and a 360-degree view bay window.

Astronauts working on the ISS usually get 8 hours of sleep after a 16-hour work day. They also get a sleep mask and earplugs to cancel out any distractions.

Though they typically work for 16 hours, they are “on call” for 24 hours a day. Aside from working on research and experiments, astronauts are also responsible for maintaining the ISS. This involves updating equipment, checking station systems, and even getting rid of trash.

Due to the effects of microgravity, securing items in place on the ISS is also really important. Astronauts don’t want their instruments floating around while they work. So hook-and-loop fasteners (Velcro) are widely used.

For astronauts who need to do a task outside the confines of the ISS, tethers are used to secure an astronaut while performing spacewalks to ensure they remain attached to the station.

Adapting to Space

Living in space not only affects the physical attributes of the body due to microgravity, but also has mental and emotional tolls. Living in a small space structure like the ISS has some psychological effects; living in confined areas for months on end, away from friends and family, can be emotionally challenging.

Astronauts develop muscle and bone loss as a result of microgravity. Aging at the cellular level seems to be accelerated as well, due to the stressors that exist in space. There’s more radiation in space, which can have both short-term and long-term health risks as well.

Having lived most of their adult lives here on Earth, where gravity is a natural part of everyday existence, it takes a couple of days for their bodies to adjust when working in space (but it takes longer to adjust when they’re back home).

Daily Exercise Routine

Did you know that astronauts need to exercise approximately two hours daily using stationary bikes, aerobic exercises, and resistance training? Astronauts’ daily tasks include maintenance activities and conducting scientific experiments, so maintaining both physical and mental well-being is important.

The daily exercise routine is to prevent musculoskeletal deterioration. Resistance training is done using the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) which was developed to be used in microgravity. It contains two vacuum cylinders to generate resistance and behaves like a weight-lifting machine on Earth.

One other cool thing about it is that it provides real-time feedback to astronauts during exercise, and then that data is then sent to NASA physiologists, who send back personalized exercise routines and monitor astronaut performance. Sort of like a really cool space personal trainer.

Making Video Calls in Space

When it comes to mental well-being, astronauts take time to call their loved ones back home.

There’s internet available on the ISS, but it’s a bit different from how it is back on Earth. It uses a data relay system via satellites to connect to ground-based networks, so astronauts can video call virtually anyone on Earth. Sure, there may be a slight delay, but it still works well. In fact, an astronaut may be reading this very article from space right now.

For communication considered more critical, such as spacewalks, astronauts use dedicated UHF radio systems to communicate with the ISS and other astronauts.. There’s also a backup system in place for communication, which includes many very high-frequency (VHF) antennas around Earth, which can allow voice-only communication from space.

What Kind of Work Do They Do?

Being an astronaut may seem like the coolest job in the world. Maybe you get an image of people floating inside the space station, or food flying around. But in reality, it’s also a complex and dangerous job, filled with many responsibilities.

Typically, an astronaut’s daily routine is based on a planned and organized schedule that adheres to NASA’s mission control objectives made in collaboration with other international space agencies around the world. Space missions are expensive, and it’s important for mission control to monitor resources and labor efficiently, and they do this by planning the schedule down to the minute.

One of the main tasks of astronauts is to conduct scientific research, with potential applications to be used here on Earth. This includes studying:

• Human physiology (bone loss, vision changes, fluid redistribution).
• Materials science (how substances behave in microgravity).
• Space medicine (long-term effects of space on health).
• Earth observations (climate studies, weather patterns).

Other tasks include testing new technologies, maintenance, and repairs on different instruments on the space station as well. It looks like they may also be involved in some gardening to grow produce in space.

Do Robots Help Out Too?

One technology that drives innovation in space is semi-autonomous robotic assistants like Astrobee that help optimize scientific research with their sensors and cameras. It’s a free-flying cube-shaped robot capable of navigating the weightless environment of the ISS. These robots can perform routine tasks semi-autonomously (since they still need some supervision), particularly data collection, inventory management, and monitoring experiments. This largely helps astronauts focus on more complex tasks.

What Happens if Something Goes Wrong?

Continuous communication with mission control via video and audio links is absolutely essential, especially when something goes wrong or doesn’t work as expected.

One example of this is instrument malfunction, inevitable in the harsh environment of space (or, well, because of regular software issues). Although trained in-depth with technical troubleshooting and repairs, astronauts still need coordination with experts on Earth at times to resolve issues efficiently. Even in space, you need to deal with troubleshooting software issues.

The Crew Return Vehicles (CRVs) are also used for emergencies. It’s a sort of ambulance for space that works as a backup spacecraft in case the astronauts need to return from the ISS due to an emergency.

The work of astronauts is important. They help widen our current knowledge and understanding of both Earth and space. There’s also a ton of things we wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for space travel. It also sounds like, even in space, you can’t escape Wi-Fi glitches, software problems, and the occasional floating wrench!