Space Station Journey
Music... music... right here the sequence initiated T-minus 15 seconds and counting... T-minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... music... Liftoff! Liftoff of the Soyuz TMA05M carrying Sunny Williams, Uriel Malenchenko, and Aki Hoshide on a two-day journey to the International Space Station. Music... Stage thrusters are operating nominally. Copy all. Launch control, and we are fine. Music... 30 seconds into the flight, launcher parameters are nominal. Copy, launch control. 40 seconds into the flight, everything's stable. Copy, everything's in order on board. Music... module of the International Space Station on the STS132 mission of Atlantis. Music... You can see the Coors Automated Rendezvous System, the crosshairs, and this engineering view, just about perfectly aligned with the docking target on the Raspbian module. Standing by for contact capture. Confirm docking. Confirmed docking. Confirmed at 11:51 pm Central Time, 12:51 am Eastern Time over northeast Kazakhstan. Music... So, on the 37th anniversary of that famous handshake in space by Tom Stafford and Alexi Leonov during the Apollo-Soyuz mission, another union of crews takes place to continue that legacy. Music... Returning to the International Space Station, first to float in and be greeted by the residents of the complex, Sunny Williams next, something is falling. Okay, Williams spent almost 200 days on board the International Space Station in 2006 and 2007. And there is the veteran Russian cosmonaut Jerry Malenchenko, floating into the Rassvet module, being greeted by Revan Acaba and Padalka. All six crew members now together on board the International Space Station. The official opening of the hatch is coming at 11:23 a.m Moscow time, 2:23 a.m Central Time on Tuesday morning, July 17th, on the 37th anniversary of the docking of Apollo and Soyuz in that historic mission more than three decades ago.
Sleeping in Space
Hello, I'm Sunny Williams. I'm up here on the International Space Station. So, this is Node 2. This is a really cool module. Of course, most of these modules you'll see, they have four sides and they're put together that way so we could sort of work on a flat plane: either a wall, a floor, another wall, or the ceiling. But, you know, again, all you have to do is turn yourself and your reference changes. The reason I'm bringing that up is because this is where four out of six of us sleep. And so, people always ask about sleeping in space: do you lie down? Are you in a bed? Not really, because it doesn't matter. You don't really have the sensation of lying down. You just sit in your sleeping bag. So, here's one sleep station right here. I'm going in right now. You can follow me if you want. So, I'm inside. It's sort of like a little phone booth, but it's pretty comfy. I've got a sleeping bag right here that we sleep in. So, we don't have sort of like a little bit of a cover. We don't fly all over the place. But, you know, you can sleep in any orientation. I have it sleeping feeling like I'm standing up right now, but like you saw, I'm on the floor. But it doesn't matter if I turn over and I sleep upside down. I can't have it. I don't have any sensation in my head that tells me that I'm upside down. So, it really doesn't matter. The sleep station is also like a little office. We've got a computer in here, as you can see. You've got a couple little toys. I've got some books. I've got some clothes and other things that make it sort of like home. I'm coming out, and just for reference, that's one sleep station. This one's another right here. There's one on the ceiling, if you want to call it, right here. And then there's a fourth on the other wall over here. So, all of us sleep in a little bit of a circle. All right, come on back. There's more to show you.
Exercising in Space
Here we are in the U.S. laboratory, again. This is a laboratory with science experience on all of the walls here, all sorts of stuff that we do. And one of the things we also do is we exercise. We have some exercise equipment on board the
Things You Can't Do at Home
Single leg squats
Bench press
There are many activities that you can do in space that you can't do at home, such as single leg squats and bench press. In space, you won't fall over while performing these exercises. Additionally, there are questions about daily activities like using the bathroom and living in space like at home.
Using the Bathroom in Space
In space, there is a bathroom called the orbital outhouse. It serves for both number one and number two. The toilet is color-coded, with yellow for number one and a separate compartment for number two. There is a selection of paper for use, including gloves, Russian wipes, tissues, and wipes for cleanup. Due to microgravity, it is important to have precautions in place to ensure things stay in the right direction. Privacy is also ensured with a small door separating the bathroom from the rest of the spacecraft.
Living in Space
Living in space also involves daily activities like brushing teeth and washing face. There is a bathroom kit that contains essential items like toothbrush, toothpaste, and brush. Water in space sticks to the toothbrush and can be used to create a bubble. After brushing, toothpaste can be either swallowed or spat out in a paper towel. Water in space can also be consumed.
Preparing for Undocking
The crew inside the Soyuz spacecraft is preparing for undocking in three hours and ten minutes. The undocking command will be issued by flight controllers, initiating the separation of the Soyuz from the International Space Station. The spacecraft will push off against each other to induce physical separation. This will be followed by a separation burn to move the Soyuz to a distance of 12 kilometers away from the station.
