Space is incredibly weird.
Below, watch Expedition 33 Commander Suni Williams (USA) give a tour of the International Space Station, focusing on some of the more mundane (dare I use such a word?) aspects of life in space: sleep, food, "number one," and "number two."
One of the trippier facts she shares is that each astronaut has his/her own private sleeping quarters, but that four of their sleeping quarters are located along different orientations of the same node (room, esentially) of the station: one sleeps in a hatch on the left wall; one sleeps in a hatch on the right wall; one sleeps in a hatch on the floor; and one sleeps in a hatch on the ceiling. They all face any which way they want, and everyone is upside down to someone.
I wonder if they each consider their sleeping quarters to be the one that's right-side up? Do they secretly hope for the sleeping quarters located in the hatch in the "floor" (relative to the writing on the walls, the bathroom facilities, etc.), so that psychologically, they feel like they're sleeping horizontally? Or would sleeping in the quarters in the floor make you feel as though people are always moving on top of you, even without the sound of footsteps? Would that make you feel six feet under? Personally, I think I'd prefer one of the sleeping quarters on the "walls." (Having a preference on the matter is probably a good indication that I am not fit to be an astronaut).
Anyway, watch on, it's super cool:
Below, watch Expedition 33 Commander Suni Williams (USA) give a tour of the International Space Station, focusing on some of the more mundane (dare I use such a word?) aspects of life in space: sleep, food, "number one," and "number two."
One of the trippier facts she shares is that each astronaut has his/her own private sleeping quarters, but that four of their sleeping quarters are located along different orientations of the same node (room, esentially) of the station: one sleeps in a hatch on the left wall; one sleeps in a hatch on the right wall; one sleeps in a hatch on the floor; and one sleeps in a hatch on the ceiling. They all face any which way they want, and everyone is upside down to someone.
I wonder if they each consider their sleeping quarters to be the one that's right-side up? Do they secretly hope for the sleeping quarters located in the hatch in the "floor" (relative to the writing on the walls, the bathroom facilities, etc.), so that psychologically, they feel like they're sleeping horizontally? Or would sleeping in the quarters in the floor make you feel as though people are always moving on top of you, even without the sound of footsteps? Would that make you feel six feet under? Personally, I think I'd prefer one of the sleeping quarters on the "walls." (Having a preference on the matter is probably a good indication that I am not fit to be an astronaut).
Anyway, watch on, it's super cool:
That sleep thing really trips me out.
As does the idea of having to brush my hair after it floats around all day, getting tangled up.
When (ha!) I make it into space, I'll have to get a crop.
For more of Suni's tour, visit NASA's Feature segment on the ISS tour. In addition to the nodes in the video above, she also gives tours of the labs, airlock, observation deck, the multi-purpose module, and the Russian segment. They're all fantastic.
Righteous, Suni. I'm proud that we women space geeks are represented on the ISS by someone with such a sense of humor and humility.
No comments:
Post a Comment