Everything About Living in Space

Hey NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman. Hey. Do you think you have a few minutes to answer everything about living in space? I got all the time in the world. Awesome. Well, where are we? We are in the Space Vehicle Mock-Up Facility. It's a gigantic building at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. And this is where astronauts spend the bulk of their time training for spaceflight. Is this the window where you took all those really cool pictures of Earth? This is the cupola. It's a series of seven windows that look down on the Earth. Nice. How big is the International Space Station? They say it's about the size of a five-bedroom house. It's kind of hard for me to conceptualize. In reality, it's just really narrow and really long. How long did you have to train before going to the ISS? About five years. And how many total days have you spent in space? 165. What's the record? Jeff Williams, he has the U.S. record, 534 days in space. But Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, almost 1,000. Wow. What's a groundbreaking experiment that you completed aboard the ISS? I survived. I heard you age faster in space. Maybe a little bit. Is there a maximum height or age that you have to be to become an astronaut? We used to have restrictions on that, but now it's pretty much come one, come all. Is there Wi-Fi? There is, but it's not as good as it is on Earth. How do you get in contact with people on the ground? We have space-to-ground communication systems. It's basically a radio or a walkie-talkie. And we just call on this and say hi to Houston. Is there a delay? Almost none. How did you get to the station? A rocket. How long did it take for you to get from Earth to the space station? Takes about six hours. And how long did it take for you to get back? Oh, that's a crazy ride. It's about three hours long. Any jet lag? Horrible jet lag. How often do you get to talk to your family? Get to talk to them once a week. Ever prank call anyone? Of course you prank call people. Ever get homesick? Yeah, you get homesick a little bit. So are the beds comfy? There are no beds. I heard you have to be strapped to a wall. You do? Are you claustrophobic? A little bit. What else can you do in your room besides sleep? You can read, watch TV, do some work, whatever you want. Do you have a bedtime? Everybody has a bedtime. Do you have alarm clocks? I use my watch. How many crew members do you have? It was me and five others. Were there any language barriers? Doc and Yeshna, of course there were language barriers. Ever get sick of your roommates? No, you never get sick of your roommates. What did you do in your free time? Oh, you look out the window. What's a typical breakfast aboard the space station? It was very much like a breakfast on Earth. So I liked eggs, occasional oatmeal, maybe even a waffle. Was the food any good? I actually thought the food was pretty good. What's your favorite meal on the station? I love chocolate pudding cake. How do you cook your food? You can either inject it with hot water or put it in a food warmer. What's the first thing that you ate when you got back to Earth? I really wanted a pizza, but I saw a salad and went for it. So did you have to work out? You work out twice a day for about 2.5 hours. And what kinds of exercises? Primarily, you're either lifting weights or running on the treadmill. Our treadmill is attached to the wall, and so when you're on it, you're running straight down towards Earth. Very weird feeling. So how do you stay on the treadmill without floating away? Bungee cords. So do you burn the same amount of calories as you do on Earth? I think you burn a little bit more because your brain is always active. I heard that in microgravity, sweat sticks to you. It does. If you have hair, it kind of builds up in your hair and you get this big sweat bubble on your head. How do you shower? We have soap and pregnant towels. How do you pee in space? Ooh. We have a funnel. Where does your pee go after you flush? A little bit of processing and then right back into the drinking water. How do you pee in a spacesuit? We have a diaper. How much water do you have to drink each day? You drink just about the same that you would on Earth. Do you ever run out of anything? Free time. How do you get more supplies? We have cargo ships. We have great companies like SpaceX, Orbital. We have Russian resupply vehicles and also Japanese HGV spacecraft. What did you miss most on Earth? My wife and kids. What personal items did you take with you? Photos of my wife and kids. Did you bring any space souvenirs home? You always have to bring souvenirs home for your kids. So I have to ask, what's your favorite planet? Oh, it used to be Saturn until I saw Earth from space. And if you were to travel anywhere in the solar system, where would you go? I work at NASA. We all want to go to Mars. Does the space station ever get too hot or too cold? Oh, we keep it a balmy 72 all year round. Nice. How about the temperature of space? Plus 200 F to minus 200 F. What about the temperature inside the spacesuit? It's actually pretty warm, pretty nice, pretty comfortable because there's many layers of thermal protection. How much does the spacesuit weigh? Oh, it's really heavy. I think it's about 300 pounds. How do you do your laundry? We throw it out. Do you have to clean the spacesuits? Of course you've got to clean the spacesuits, especially after a spacewalk. How long does it take for you to put on a spacesuit? About 45 minutes. Can you put it on by yourself? If you're in a pinch, you can put it on by yourself. How long does a spacewalk normally take? We train for about 6 1⁄2 hours. And what's the maximum time a spacewalk can last? The maximum is about 9 hours. I think 8 hours and 54 minutes is our record. How's the view? Awesome. What's the hardest thing about a spacewalk? Just knowing that you're outside, and if you mess anything up, you've destroyed a $100 billion spacecraft. And what's the most rewarding? Coming back. Sounds awesome. Well, I'm sure there are a lot more questions, but I know you're busy, so we'll save those for another time. Sounds good. Awesome. Thanks. Have a good one. See ya. I think what's interesting about the space program and the space station is that sometimes you have these developments that you might not have even predicted.