1. What is the International Space Station?
The International Space Station (ISS) is like a giant floating laboratory. Inside is an impressive jumble of modules, with computers and instrument panels hanging from every wall.
It has got everything the astronauts need to live. There is a gym, cooking facilities, sleeping areas and toilets.
2. How Do You Get to the Space Station?
Astronauts launch to the ISS from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The journey can take two days, but Tim has a fast-track ticket and should be able to make the trip in a bit under six hours.
3. Where is the Space Station?
The International Space Station isn’t floating in one place above the earth, it’s orbiting at 10 times the speed of a bullet.
This means that it travels around the planet 15.54 times in a day.
4. What Powers the Space Station?
The International Space Station gets all its energy from the sun.
The huge solar panels that power everything on board are larger than the wingspan of a jumbo jet.
5. How Do You Survive in Space?
Life in space is impossible, so the ISS needs to recreate the conditions of earth in space.
It needs to provide astronauts with air to breathe, water to drink and a stable pressurised environment to live in.
6. What Happens to Your Body in Space?
Space can seriously damage your health!
Without gravity, your bones and muscles don’t need to work as hard, so every astronaut has a strict exercise routine to make sure their body doesn’t waste away.
7. What Would Happen Without a Spacesuit?
You would only last a few seconds if you stepped out into space without any protection – that’s why astronauts wear a spacesuit.
This is like a mini spaceship with everything an astronaut needs to survive the deadly conditions outside the ISS.
8. How Do You Sleep in Space?
The bedrooms in the space station are like padded cupboards and the beds are like floating sleeping bags.
There is no up or down in space, so there are crew quarters within the floor, ceiling and walls of the space station.
9. How Do You Become an Astronaut?
Being an astronaut is many people’s dream job and astronauts have come from all sorts of different backgrounds.
There have been pilots, as well as scientists, engineers, doctors and teachers.
10. What Can Inspire One About Space?
The astronauts are just the tip of the iceberg. Around the world, there are hundreds of other people working to support a mission to the ISS.
Every day, people in mission control carefully monitor and manage the space station’s flight. Then there are engineers and scientists, who work on developing new experiments. One thing they all have in common is a passion for space and scientific discovery.
Source: BBC Bitesize
See Also: How Astronauts Train For Space Missions
