Life aboard the Orion Spacecraft Heading For Lunar Orbit ⋆ The Costa Rica News

(Houston, United States). They drink milkshakes, take photos with their cell phones, deal with email, and fix broken toilets: astronauts are just like us.

The four crew members traveling through space toward the Moon are on an unprecedented mission, but they’re also doing their best to navigate the mundane aspects of life, all while floating together in a space roughly the size of two minivans.

Mission specialist Christina Koch, the first woman to go into deep space, said that preparing for the 10-day trip was like planning a camping trip.

“It represents togetherness and something a little out of the ordinary,” she said in a video released by NASA.

The Orion capsule’s provisions include 58 tortillas, 43 cups of coffee, barbecue beef, and five types of hot sauce.

And just one toilet… which had a problem.

This is the first time astronauts heading into deep space have had a real bathroom on board: the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s provided astronauts with waste collection bags that were ultimately left on the lunar surface.

To the astronauts’ relief, Koch solved the Orion toilet problem: “I’m proud to call myself the space plumber,” she said during a Q&A session with U.S. media on Thursday night.

“I like to say it’s possibly the most important piece of equipment on board,” he added. “So we breathed a sigh of relief when it turned out everything was okay.”

The bathroom is a small cubicle that’s quite noisy; the astronauts have to protect their ears when they use it.

But it’s “the only place we can go during the mission where we can feel like we’re alone for a moment,” said Canadian Jeremy Hansen in a video released by his country’s space agency before liftoff.

The Artemis astronauts also encountered some issues with their email. Mission Commander Reid Wiseman said he was having problems with Microsoft Outlook.

“I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither of them is working,” he said during a NASA live stream.

Who among us?

The staff at the Mission Control Center in Houston solved the problem: where would we be without our computer experts?

The astronauts must establish a sleep schedule to ensure they are well-rested for the mission, during which they will perform gravity maneuvers around the Moon, as well as a series of test maneuvers, equipment checks, and scientific observations.

They have sleeping bags that attach to the walls of the capsule to keep them from floating around inside.

“Christina has been sleeping upside down in the middle of the vehicle, like a bat hanging from our docking tunnel,” Wiseman explained.

“It’s more comfortable than you might think,” he adds.

“Like a child”

But there are no days off; astronauts have 30 minutes of exercise built into their schedules.

They use a “flywheel exercise device” similar to a yo-yo, which allows them to perform aerobic exercises such as rowing, as well as strength training.

It is essential for astronauts to exercise because the microgravity environment reduces the load on their bones and muscles, which can lead to significant loss if precautions are not taken.

NASA also recently updated its policy on cell phones during flights. “We’re giving our crews the tools to capture special moments for their families and share inspiring images and videos with the world,” wrote Jared Isaacman, administrator of the U.S. space agency, on X in February.

While their mission demands extreme precision, there is still room for a touch of childlike lightheartedness.

Hansen answered questions from the press while strapped into a horizontal position and described the joy on floating: “It just makes me feel like a kid.”

For Victor Glover, the first Black astronaut to orbit the Moon, much of the thrill came at liftoff. “It was a journey where you try to stay professional,” he said.

“But the kid inside you wants to come out and scream.”

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