The International Space Station (ISS) is the biggest object ever flown in space. It orbits at around 400 km (250 miles) above Earth and a team of astronauts have lived and worked here since the year 2000. It is our first step towards exploring deeper into the Solar System.
Astronauts do lots of scientific experiments on the space station to help us understand more about the effects of living in space. This will be useful knowledge for future deep-space exploration.
Keeping fit
There is no gravity in space, so astronauts exercise every day. It keeps them healthy and stops their muscles from getting weak. The heart and blood change in space. When we stand up on Earth, blood goes to our legs. The heart has to work extra hard against gravity to move the blood all around the body. In space, without the pull of gravity, the blood moves to the upper body and head. Water in the body also does the same thing. It makes the astronauts’ faces look puffy. The blood and water are fluids in the body. These fluids move from the bottom of the body to the top. The brain thinks that there are too many fluids. It will tell the body to make less. When the astronauts come back to Earth, they do not have enough fluids in their systems. It takes their bodies a few days to make more blood and water. The astronauts have to rest so their bodies have time to make new blood and water. If they don’t, they can feel very weak. They might even faint!
Space walk
Sometimes astronauts have to go outside on spacewalks to repair the ISS. They wear special suits to protect them from the harsh environment of space. Inside spacesuits, astronauts have the oxygen they need to breathe. They have the water they need to drink.
Astronauts put on their spacesuits several hours before a spacewalk. The suits are pressurized. This means that the suits are filled with oxygen.
Once in their suits, astronauts breathe pure oxygen for a few hours. Breathing only oxygen gets rid of all the nitrogen in an astronaut’s body. If they didn’t get rid of the nitrogen, the astronauts might get gas bubbles in their body when they walked in space. These gas bubbles can cause astronauts to feel pain in their shoulders, elbows, wrists and knees. This pain is called getting “the bends” because it affects the places where the body bends. Scuba divers can also get “the bends.”
Astronauts are now ready to get out of their spacecraft. They leave the spacecraft through a special door called an airlock. The airlock has two doors. When astronauts are inside the spacecraft, the airlock is airtight so no air can get out. When astronauts get ready to go on a spacewalk, they go through the first door and lock it tight behind them. They can then open the second door without any air getting out of the spacecraft. After a spacewalk, astronauts go back inside through the airlock.
Nice view
From the space station you can see entire countries, storms from above, and 16 sunsets and sunrises every day! Artificial structures visible from earth orbit without magnification include highways, dams, and cities. The Great Wall of China, often cited as the only human-made structure visible from space, is not visible from low Earth orbit without magnification, and even then can be seen only under perfect conditions. From US Space Shuttles, which typically orbited at around 135 mi (217 km), cities were easily distinguishable from surrounding countryside. Using binoculars, astronauts could even see roads, dams, harbours, even large vehicles such as ships and planes. At night, cities are also easily visible from the higher orbit of the ISS.
Metropolitan areas are clear at night, particularly in industrialized countries, due to a multitude of street lights and other light sources in urban areas
Robonaut
Robonaut 2 is a NASA (US space agency) robot astronaut that lives on the space station and helps the crew with sample tasks, such as changing air filters. Its head has cameras, which work like eyes, and its hands can operate simple tools.
One advantage of a humanoid design is that Robonaut can take over simple, repetitive, or especially dangerous tasks on places such as the International Space Station. Because R2 is approaching human dexterity, tasks such as changing out an air filter can be performed without modifications to the existing design.
Another way this might be beneficial is during a robotic precursor mission. R2 would bring one set of tools for the precursor mission, such as setup and geologic investigation. Not only does this improves efficiency in the types of tools, but also removes the need for specialized robotic connectors. Future missions could then supply a new set of tools and use the existing tools already on location.
Picture Credit : Google