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KIDS: Our World!
EVAN: Well Globey, it's been a long day.
Time to get some shut-eye. My bed is so warm and cozy
especially when my head hits that pillow, but do you ever
wonder what it would be like to sleep in space?
Well good morning. You all really got an early start
today. It's 6 am on board the International Space station.
I've just finished a good night's sleep. We generally go
to bed at about 9:30 at night, so that gave me a nice 8 1/2
hours of sleep. Anyhow, it's great that you decided to join
us so early. If you bear with me just a little bit, I'll get
out of my bed or my sleeping bag and I'll give you a little
bit of an introduction or a little bit of a briefing on how
we do things like sleep on board the station.
EVAN: Astronauts aboard the International Space Station
sleep in an area called a Temporary Sleep Space
or TESS for short. In the reduced gravity environment of
space, there is no up or down. The astronauts who appear to be
floating can actually use all of the space around them.
Astronauts can sleep in any orientation, but they have to
attach themselves to a wall, a seat, or a bunk bed inside the
crew cabin so they don't float around and bump into something
or each other.
Astronauts are scheduled for 8 hours of sleep
at the end of each mission day. But just like sleeping here on
Earth, astronauts can have difficulty sleeping.
Studies show that astronauts typically sleep Ĺ an hour to
2 Ĺ hours less than they do on Earth. They may wake up to use
the restroom or get a drink of water. Some astronauts have
even reporting snoring in space. Other factors on board
the ISS like noise and lights can also interrupt sleep.
As we go into TESS, the first thing you see is my sleeping
bag. And as you can see, my sleeping bag is just kind of a
normal sleeping bag. It's a fabric cover. And I'll tell
you a little bit more about it shortly. In the back, you can
see there, the headset that I use when I want to make
telephone calls to family or friends or anyone for that
matter. And there's my laptop computer. I use that of course
for all of the things you use a computer for. I can read books
on it, magazines, I watch television, movies;
it's really quite convenient.
EVAN: That's like a little space sleeping pod!
Here's my sleeping bag. And of course unlike my sleeping bag
on Earth. With this one, I don't have to lay it down to
get into it. Some of the unusual sort of space like
features are that it has a little slot for each arm to
come out of. It serves a couple of useful functions.
Of course one of them is it allows me to do work inside my
little sleep station. It allows me to work on the
computer if I would like. Plus also, if I get a little warm,
it allows me to stay in the sleeping bag and still be
restrained, which is a different function than our
sleeping bag. A sleeping bag on the ground really is just
designed to keep you warm. This is also designed to keep
us from moving around so much. We can secure it to the floor
or the walls or the ceiling if you really want to sleep
in an unusual fashion.
EVAN: Sleeping on the ceiling? Now that's really a different
way of getting some Zzzz's. I wonder what it's like
waking up like that?
Getting ready for work first means taking care of a few
normal chores like brushing your teeth. We do get asked
very often Ďhow do you brush your teeth in space' and what
you do with the toothpaste. Well, let me show you what we
use to brush our teeth in space. A tube of toothpaste.
And a toothbrush. Just like the ones you use. And I hope
you brush your teeth 3 times a day. Now, as I'm brushing my
teeth. There's no sink to spit in, so what do I do?
Use a towel? This is a package that has one dry towel in it.
This is provided by Russian space program and it works as
very nice little towels. And yes, almost everything has
Velcro on it. I can either swallow the toothpaste or I can
spit it into the towel. Unfortunately one other chore
that I have to deal with everyday is shaving.
So, I use something called Astro Edge Shaving Cream.
And a razor just like I would on the ground.
Again, no running water. So, it's difficult to clean my
razor, so I just use the same old towel. This means I would
have to replace the blade a little more frequently than I
would on the Earth. No running water. How do I get all that
extra soap off my face? Courtesy of the Russian space
program, we have these wonderful wet towels.
Each package has one wet towel in it. And there I am.
I've brushed my teeth. I've shaved. I've washed my face.
Now I'm ready to go have breakfast.
And remember, every day ought to start out with a
good healthy breakfast. And follow that up by two other
well balanced meals throughout the rest of the day.
And you'll be able to do lot's of other good work whether it's
at school or on board the International Space Station.
Have a great day.
EVAN: So the next time you're getting ready to start your
day, think about the astronauts on the International Space
Station. But don't swallow your toothpaste.
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KIDS: Our World!
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