FUN FACTS ABOUT LIFE ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

The space shuttle Endeavor is scheduled to take off for the International Space Station sometime in July, if all goes as scheduled.  When that happens, here are some interesting facts about the four to six months astronauts spend living on the space station that you might want to use on your show.

In April of this year NASA named a treadmill, used by the astronauts for exercising in space, after The Comedy Channel’s Stephen Colbert.  Since NASA is a little obsessed with acronyms, they say Colbert stand for Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill.

The astronauts stay in touch with their families via video conferences every couple of weeks.  They also have phones that work when they are in contact with certain satellites and they can call home every orbit for about 15 minutes.

I am sorry to have to tell you that the space ice cream that you see sold in stores is NOT eaten by the astronauts anymore.  Their food is now much more sophisticated.  It comes in packages and cans.  Some of it needs to be re-hydrated while other items just need to be heated up.  Some of the recipes prepared for the astronauts are Russian while others are American.

Entrees include lasagna, chicken with peanut sauce, lamb with vegetables, and fish with seasoning.  No bread is allowed because the astronauts can’t risk having crumbs damage the instrument panel.  So, instead they eat tortillas, even with hamburgers.  Desserts are usually ready to eat and come in all shapes and sizes from dried fruit, to cookies, candy, berry cobbler, and brownies.

NASA astronaut Michael Massimino told Food Network Magazine this month that cashews are his favorite snack in space because, in zero gravity, they just float into his mouth.  He says catching them when he throws them in the air is easier in space than it is on earth.  Some of his other favorites of the NASA food scientists’ prepared items are the shrimp cocktail and butterscotch pudding.

The astronauts entertain themselves by writing e-mails, working out, writing journals, and watching movies.  Some of the movies they have on the space station are the most recent Star Trek movie, Apollo 13, Armageddon, Around the World in 80 Days and, So I Married an Axe Murderer.  They don’t get any real-time television but they do get news and some of their favorite shows on a weekly basis.

 Print This Post

July 1st, 2009 | Tags: life on the International Space Station | Category: Daily Blog