Astronauts for Kids: How Do People Live on the Space Station?
How do astronauts eat, sleep and go to the bathroom in space? Why do they float? Explained for kids – with 16 sunrises a day, the ISS live over your town and how you can become an astronaut.
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A house that flies around the Earth
The International Space Station, the ISS, is a flying laboratory about 250 miles above our heads. It is about as big as a football field, and people have lived on board without a break since November 2000 – usually seven astronauts at a time, from many different countries.
The ISS races around the Earth at about 17,000 miles per hour. In the time it takes you to brush your teeth, it flies almost 600 miles!
Why do astronauts float?
Surprise: up there, the Earth still pulls almost as strongly as down here! The astronauts float because the station and everything in it are falling – all the time. The station flies sideways so fast that it keeps falling around the Earth instead of down onto it. Everything falls together, so nothing presses against the floor, and that feels like floating.
Try it: throw a ball around the world
Throw a ball as far as you can – it curves down to the ground. If you could throw it super fast, at 17,000 miles per hour, the ground would curve away beneath it just as fast as it falls, and it would fly around the Earth forever. That's an orbit!
16 sunrises and sunsets every day
The ISS flies around the whole Earth in about 93 minutes. On every trip it flies from night into day – so the astronauts see a sunrise about every hour and a half.
Everyday life in space
Sleeping: Astronauts sleep in sleeping bags tied to the wall of a tiny cabin. There's no up or down, so it doesn't matter which way they hang. Many wear a sleep mask – with 16 sunrises a day, it's never dark for long.
Eating: Crumbs would float around and get into the machines, so astronauts eat tortillas instead of bread. Food comes in pouches and cans, and some of it is dried and mixed with water. Salt and pepper come as liquids, because grains would fly away.
Drinking: Water on the ISS is recycled again and again: about 98 of every 100 drops come back – even from sweat and urine! A machine cleans it so well that it is perfectly fine to drink.
Going to the bathroom: The space toilet works like a vacuum cleaner: a fan sucks everything away, so nothing floats off. Astronauts practice using it on Earth before their flight!
Staying fit: Without any weight to carry, muscles and bones get weak. So astronauts exercise about two hours every day – on a treadmill with straps that hold them down, on a bike without a seat and on a special weight machine.
Growing taller: In space, nothing presses the spine together, so it stretches. Astronauts can grow up to 2 inches taller – but back on Earth, they shrink to their normal height within a few weeks.
Tears that don't fall: If an astronaut cries, the tears don't run down their cheeks. They stick to the eye as a wobbly ball of water that keeps growing – and it can sting a little.
Washing your hair: There's no shower on the ISS. Astronauts wash with damp towels and use a special shampoo that doesn't need to be rinsed out. Water sticks to them like a blob instead of running off.
Where is the ISS right now?
The ISS flies over your town again and again. On a clear evening or morning you can see it with your bare eyes: a bright dot gliding quickly and steadily across the sky, without blinking. It can be brighter than any star.
How to become an astronaut
Love to learn: Astronauts are usually scientists, engineers, doctors or pilots. So math, science and tinkering are great – and so are languages: on the ISS, people speak English and Russian.
Stay fit and healthy: You don't need to be a top athlete, but you should be healthy and fit. At the last selection of the European Space Agency, applicants had to be between 4 ft 11 in and 6 ft 3 in tall.
Be a great team player: On the ISS, a small crew lives together in a tight space for about half a year. Astronauts need to stay calm, help each other and be able to laugh – even when things go wrong.
Train, train, train: Astronauts train for years: in a huge swimming pool where it feels a bit like floating, in flight simulators, and in survival courses in snow and desert, in case their capsule lands in the wrong place.
Be patient: Space agencies only look for new astronauts every few years. At the last European selection, more than 22,000 people applied – and only a handful were chosen.
Famous space travelers
Yuri Gagarin: On April 12, 1961, the Soviet cosmonaut became the first person in space. He flew once around the Earth in 108 minutes.
Valentina Tereshkova: In 1963, she became the first woman in space – and circled the Earth 48 times in almost three days.
Neil Armstrong: In July 1969, he became the first person to walk on the moon. Only twelve people have ever set foot there.
Sally Ride: In 1983, she became the first American woman in space. Later she wrote books and started programs to get kids – especially girls – excited about science.
Tim Peake: The British astronaut lived on the ISS for six months in 2015 and 2016, went on a spacewalk and ran the London Marathon on a treadmill in space.
Chris Hadfield: The Canadian commander of the ISS recorded a music video in space in 2013 – singing and playing the guitar while floating.
Animals in space
Before people flew, animals went first: fruit flies in 1947, later monkeys and dogs. In 1960, the dogs Belka and Strelka circled the Earth and came back safe and sound. Today, tiny tardigrades – also called water bears – are the space champions: they survived even outside a spacecraft.
Questions about astronauts
How high does the ISS fly? About 250 miles above the Earth. If you could drive a car straight up at highway speed, you would get there in about four hours.
How long does it take to fly to the ISS? The rocket reaches space in only about nine minutes. After that it depends on the spacecraft: the fastest flights reach the station in about three hours, others take about a day.
How many people are in space right now? Usually about ten: around seven on the ISS and three on China's space station, Tiangong. Sometimes a few more join for short trips.
Can you see the ISS from Earth? Yes! On clear evenings and mornings, it glides across the sky like a bright star that doesn't blink. You can only see it around dusk and dawn, when it is dark down here but the station high above is still lit by the sun.
What will happen to the ISS when it gets old? The ISS is planned to keep flying until about 2030. After that, a special spacecraft will push it down so that it burns up over a remote part of the ocean. New, smaller space stations are already being built to take its place.