The International Space Station

hello I'm Sonny Williams I'm up here on

the International Space Station so this

is no - 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 we could sort of walk

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 him 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 we'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

I know that there's some questions about

how to use the bathroom

and how do you actually live in space

like normal like at home I mentioned

real quickly about getting up in the. morning and brushing your teeth and

washing your face well how do you do

that well here is the bathroom

essentially you get up in the morning

and we have a little kit and it has all

the essential things that you need like

your a toothbrush and toothpaste and

brush see how see how much better the

brush makes my hair look I'm just joking

it still stands up straight it doesn't

matter where you are it's always going

to stand up straight while you're up in

space a lot of people ask about

toothbrush and toothpaste so luckily

enough toothpaste you can do it outside

right this way it's sticky and so it

sticks to your toothbrush no problem

another cool thing is that water sticks

to your toothbrush too you can see it

I'll have some water come out

water is pretty neat up in space it'll

stick to your toothbrush and it will

make a big bubble and that's just my surface tension and then you can drink it

so a lot of people ask about what do you

do with the toothpaste after you brush your teeth two options swallow it and it's sort of like mouthwash

but it tastes a little gross or you can

just spit it out in a paper towel and

then you don't have to worry about it

the only thing I wouldn't recommend at

home I'm only up here for four months so

it's not that bad

one of the most pressing questions about

using the living in space of course is

the bathroom so let's take a look at

that little piece of work

come on and here we are at the throne this is awesome you might see the little you might have

noticed a little moon on the outside

this is our orbital outhouse right here

and of course it serves for two

functions number two right here I'll

show you but you see it's pretty small

so you have to have pretty good aim and

you'll be ready to make sure things get

let go the right direction and it smells a little bit so I'm closing it up and

that's of course for number two and this

guy right here is for number one so

there's sort of two slightly separate

functions but you can do a little

suspension by hanging on right here and

doing number one and number two I might

add it's color coded so you really don't

get it mixed up which is nice this is

yellows for number one and also there's

a selection of paper people always ask

about toilet paper what do you do a

toilet paper what kind of toilet paper

do you have we have gloves just because

sometimes it does get messy we have some

Russian wipes which are a little bit

coarse if you like the coarse type of

toilet paper we have some nice tissues

which are nice and soft if you like soft

toilet paper

we have Huggies just for any cleanup you

know we're all babies once and this sort

of helps and then if things get really

out of control we have

disinfectant wipes just to make sure we

clean up here because you know just like

the water I showed you the number one

stuff can sort of go all over the place

if you don't aim correctly and did I

mention both of these have a little bit

of section so they should keep things

going in the right direction

but like I said sometimes things get a

little out of control if you are out of

control yourself flying around so we

have lots of protective stuff and of

course you do have your privacy there's

a little door so other people know that

you're in there here's a pretty cool

place this is sort of like in your house

where everybody meets in the morning

after you wash your face brush your

teeth you want to find something for

breakfast and this is our kitchen

you might notice there's all sorts of

foods here it's like opening the

refrigerator you got all your different

stuff that you want to have drinks meats

eggs vegetables cereals bread snacks and

that's a good place that's where you

find all the candy side dishes and then

some little power bars just in case so

we have all this type of food some of it

is dehydrated and so we have to hydrate

it fill it up with water some of it is already made and then all we have to do

is heat it up so something like this I'm

pulling out barbecued beef brisket

pretty yummy not only is this food made

in the US but we also have food here

from Japan

we've got Russian food as you can see

all these red containers are filled with

food that's from Russia and then we get

some of our specialty stuff some things

that we like some of our favorite stuff

that your family can send up in fact I

like fluffernutter's and so I got sent

up some fluffs so I could make my

fluffernutter with peanut butter so you

have a lot of food up here no problems

no want to say where we are so right now

we're in the Japanese laboratory it's

one laboratory out of many here on the

International Space Station

it's

actually on the left hand side if I was

International Space Station and I was

flying through space like this my left

hand would be where the Japanese

laboratory is so now again we're on the

right hand side all the way on the right

of the International Space Station this

is Columbus the European module it has

science experiments all over you could

see it looks a little bit crowded and

here we do a lot of our medical

experiments

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

space station we need to do that because

we lose bone density and muscle mass

while we're up here and that's a result

fight against gravity
of not having to fight against gravity

so how we keep ourselves in shape are

with a bike a treadmill and a

weightlifting machine this is the bike

you notice the clip the pedals so all

you need to do is actually clip your

feet in and then you can start pedaling

you don't need a seat because you don't

sit down actually I haven't sat down for

six months now so you don't need any any

type of seat just make sure you're

you're held in with your pedals you

probably see that the bike bounces


spacecraft

around a little bit as I move it it's

not steady and held to the wall firmly

and the reason for that is the space

station is pretty big you saw that

there's also solar arrays on the space

station if we start putting any forces

into the space station it's going to

make those solar arrays bounce around a

little bit so to prevent that the

machines bounce around a little bit move

around a little bit and that way we

don't put any forces on to the structure

of the spacecraft out to the solar

arrays alright a little farther on come

on

I'm here with my two buddies in the

airlock actually these are two

spacesuits that are ready primed up to

go outside as we call it to go do a

spacewalk in case we have to do any

thing outside some of the things we do

outside there's just like inside repairs

we have a lot of electrical boxes and

machinery in solar arrays in fact that I

talked about earlier that our outside

and sometimes they don't work quite

right remember space is really cold and

really hot and it's also the vacuum of

space with no pressure and so some of

the equipment doesn't work well all the

time so we might have to go out and do a

spacewalk right behind me is actually

the hatch that you go out into space and

right now we have it filled up with a

couple other spacesuits because we've

got four of them up here and some of our

tools but right behind here is the hatch

in which you actually go right outside

into the vacuum of space the spacesuit

is pretty big as you can see it's like

being a football player part of the

reason it's so big and bulky is because

of this backside of this backpack it's

like going on a hike with a backpack but

the backpack and the suit weighs about

300 pounds luckily in space nothing

really weighs anything so you don't feel

that it's so heavy but we need to have

such a big suit because that guy back

there is essentially the heart of the

space craft this I call this actually a

spacecraft it has all the oxygen for you

it has all the carbon dioxide removal

system for you it also has a heating and

cooling system to make sure that

regulate our body temperatures while

we're outside it also has a computer so

it tells you on a display here if

there's anything that is going wrong

with the suit if we're running out of

oxygen if we have too much carbon

dioxide or any type of electrical

problem so it's a pretty awesome little

spacecraft and actually got to go out

use my spacecraft a little spacecraft a

couple times and it worked like a charm

lucky that it works very nice

you might want to see what the helmet

looks like it's pretty cool too

we don't usually go out like this so you

usually can see when the helmets open so

you can see what it looks like inside

somebody's little head would be inside

of here so you can see you can turn your

head all the way around while you're

inside of there but the helmet stays

still so that's determined you're you're

how far you could see and it's usually

pretty sunny out there so we have to

wear our sunglasses and this is our

sunglasses right here which make you

look pretty cool it's like a

glass-bottom boat this is the cupola it

stick sticks down below the space

station it's one of those places you

find yourself hanging out and all the

time because all you want to do is look

back at our planet I think some

questions I had were about what are you

doing your free time and you can't help

but want to just come to the cupola and

look outside as much as you can and a

lot of folks I play this game with

myself about where we're flying over the

earth I try to come in here and just

guess after being here for a little

while you can sort of figure it out you

can tell different cloud types over

different continents you can tell

different soil types over different

continents so let's see and then of

course there's a lot of ocean so usually

we're over the ocean at first glance I

will tell you in just a moment where we

are

there we go right now we are right over

Africa it's a little bit cloudy as you

can tell so we're right over the

continent of Africa hey what's that they

think that's a Soyuz spacecraft that's

Soyuz spacecraft

the spacecraft that's taking us home to
Planet Earth today oh my gosh we might
have to go take a look at that that's
pretty cool it's a little bit smaller
than the rest of the spacecraft the
space station so you'll see if we get go
there it'll be a little bit more cramped
though we're going you can look all the
way back to the back of the spacecraft
which is where the Russian segment is
and then you could look all the way
forward to the front of the spacecraft
where the where the Japanese laboratory
the European laboratory and the American
laboratory are and then back to the
solar arrays where we started in this
morning when we were looking out the

Japanese window

so other questions that were here are
what would you recommend is a job if and
what type of person would want to be an
astronaut I think people who would like
to explore of course people who like
math and science that's what this is all
about that we have people in the office
who are doctors teachers veterinarians
engineers pilots so all sorts of people
become astronauts and I think if you see
it's just sort of cool so I think people
who like to do a little adventure and
like to do cool stuff probably usually
become astronauts hey one thing I didn't
show you or I talked about but I didn't
show you was the exercise one another
piece of exercise device which is the
advanced resistive exercise and that's
what this is right here this is a red
and you could probably see this bar and
just do a little bit of maneuvering here
stand by we have to set it up just like
at any other gyms
show you how this works
so you can see you can change your
attitude just bite going from one module
to the next going up from the cupola
down here this is what we call the a red
and with this you can lift weights based
on vacuum in these cylinders just like
you do at home at a gym for example if I
wanted to do a squat I could do it like
this
gain some weight on this thing I'm not
lifting with anything so it's dirty it's
too easy one of the cool things youcan't do at home
for example single leg squats with just
one leg because the other leg you won't
fall over so all sorts of stuff you can
also do bench press we have a bench that
we could add on here so you can work on
your beach muscles
hey Aki what are you doing down there
this is one of the cool things about
space - it sort of looks like there's a
big old hole here but you don't even
think twice about it you could just jump
over the hole or if you want you can go
jump into the hole I'm coming down come
right back up again
like Superman we were lucky we have a
really cool big Space Station that you
can fly around and that's actually
called the PMM you might have saw it out
the window is a big silver canister
what's really great about that is it's
essentially our closet in our pantry or
whatever you want to call it
we have extra food down there we have
extra clothes we actually throw the
trash out down there so it's nice and
organized and we have all of our stuff
that we need while we're working in all
these other modules all stowed in this
location down here and it's a lot of fun
to play in so we're going into the
Russian segment be ready you don't need
a passport either
it goes a lot farther back than this
we'll go take a trip and say hello to
the boys down there in just a minute but
let's do that first actually and then
we'll go down to the Soyuz at the very
end this is your Guinea doing a little
tour this is the FGB
and what's cool about this module it is
actually the very first piece of the
space station that came up in 1998 the
space station has been around for about
now
man for 12 years but it's been up in
space for about 14 years and this was
the very first it is like the Russians
pmm it has a lot of storage as you can
see
Mona scream I am
cricket
so here we are in the heart of the space
station really this is the service of
all module this is the central post in
could do you could do things that you 

 we have toworry about in space

case we had any problems I know when a
couple of the questions are about what
type of things do you have to worry
about and some of the things we have to
worry about in space are fire if we had
a fire if we had a depressurization like
we were hit by a micrometeorite and they
made a hole or if we had some type of
toxic atmosphere we use ammonia for our
radiator so there is a possibility that
ammonia could come into the vehicle and
then it would be bad for all of us if we
have any of those problems we come right
here which we call the central post it
is the main heart of the space station
it was also the first computers that
came up here that ran the space station
so behind this wall right here on these
main computers so we gather here as a
group of three or six and then figure
out how we're going to either fight the
fire patch the hole or solve the the
toxic spill and what's cool about this
module of course is the central post it
also has great windows right down toward
Earth it has controls to fly in visiting
spacecraft if they
need some assistance right here it has
Russian computers as well as American
computers to help us control anything we
need to on the space station it's a cup
of our crewmates back there I'll live
Oleg Novitsky on the right and during
Milan chinko on the left and there's
also a second bathroom here which is
really cool because six of us going to
but one bathroom is really tough and so
there's one bathroom here and one
bathroom on the other side where I
showed you and you can probably see on
the wall behind a leg and Yuri some of
the heroes of the space program
Korolev Sergei Korolev who was a chief
designer of putting men into space and
of course on the right hand side Yuri
Gagarin the first man
this reminds us of our roots
Yuri what are you doing still deal it
making coffee
Oh
black coffee
looks good
okay spasiba
we're going to check out our Soyuz real
quick
make sure it's ready to go all right
back to the Soyuz
I'm going to I'm gonna stop here just
for a quick second you can see on the
Russian spacecraft there's also other
modules that stick out down and above
right here is let's see I'm trying to be
oriented that's a place where we do
spacewalks read for the Russians for the
Russian side there's Russian spacesuits
in here and also a visiting vehicle
which brought fruits and vegetables and
becomes a trash container when we undock
upon this side is also a future place
where they're going to do spacewalks
from and connected to it is Kevin's a
legs and you've Ginny's Soyuz spacecraft
and that was go see ours whoa there's
been a TIA
from the prop gun
coming down
it's a little tricky getting in here
this is the docking probe right here
this big thing this helps us connect to
the spacecraft this probe actually
sticks into this cone
and that's how the spacecraft this our
Soyuz becomes connected to the ISS
initially that is then replaced by
clamps which are around here that will
allow the two spacecraft to be stuck
together and then you can remove the
probe in the cone
[Laughter]
all right so here we are in the store
use this is what we call the Beto the
living compartment the boy upset in
Russian it also has a little bathroom
it's not as good as the other bathrooms
so we try not to use it too much it has
drinking water in it if we need
something to drink and then of course
it's filled up with a lot of cargo for
us
for us bringing up and also bringing
back down it has a second purpose when
it comes back to earth it serves as a
garbage container during the descent
we'll will get rid of this area right
here and everything that's in it will
just burn up as it's coming into the
atmosphere so that way we can get rid of
a little bit of trash but the main area
where we were on launch and where we're
going to be on descent is down here because we're not part of the trash so
we're in a safe place so we're in the
descent module si
it's a little small but you can get in
I'm not sure how well you could see in
here put on for a second I'm going to
turn it up this way just so you could
see the hatch and you can see Kevin it's
a little bit small but we'll come in and
show you around
you come in okay
you got to move a couple things we're
just starting to get ready we're
preparing a couple days ago for our ride
home it's a little bit squishy but
everybody asks how do you sit in the
Soyuz and you sort of sit in your seat
like this seat is molded to your body
and so you can just sort of squish in
here and be pretty relaxed everybody has
a handmade seat for them and then of
course there's a control panel and
that's where we do most of our actions
and work right here there's hand
controllers which you can fly the
vehicle with and there's a stick right
here primarily used for communications
when we're trying to talk to the ground
so three of us fit in here like I said
it's a little squishy but somehow it
seems like we all managed to get in here
and and fit pretty well and it's a
pretty safe ride home you're probably
wondering what's all this junk behind us
well it's all of our parachute first of
all and then it's all of our survival
gear just in case we end up landing in
some strange place on the planet and
nobody's there to rescue us right away
we have all sorts of survival gear with
us keeping us safe in here so they've
pretty much thought of everything and
we'll be home on the planet within the
next twelve hours pretty shocked

Best of luck