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 have 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
told days have you spend space? 165
What's the record?
Jeff Williams... He has the U.S. record 534
days in space but Russian cosmonaut
Gennady Padalka almost a thousand. 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
communications 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 to take for you
to get back?
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? You 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 could read,
watch TV, do some work, whatever you want.
Do you have a bed time? 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? Da, kenyeshna. Of course their
are language barriers. Ever get sick of your
roommates? You always... No, you never get
sick your roommates.
What did you do in your free time? Oh, you
look out the window. What's the 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 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 kind of exercises? Primarily you're
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 kind of
builds up in your hair and you get this
big sweat bubble on your head.
How do you shower? We have soap
impregnated towels. How do you pee in space?
Ooo... 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 what 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 HTV spacecraft. What'd you miss
most on Earth? Awe, 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 is a spacesuit weight? Oh it's really
heavy i think it's about 300 pounds.
How do your laundry? We throw it out. Do you
have to clean the spacesuits? Of course
you gotta 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 space walk normally take?
We train for about six and a half hours.
And what's the max amount of time a
spacewalk can last? The maximum is about
nine hours i think eight 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 hundred billion
dollar spacecraft. And what's 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 this for another time.
Sounds good.
Awesome thanks have a good. 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 even
predicted.
