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SPACE
Life in Orbit
INTERNATIONAL
SPACE-CATION
by a pair of NASA astronauts – Walter “Wally” Schirra and Tom
Stafford. On 16 Dec 1965, the duo surprised mission control and
the crew of Gemini VII, who were also in orbit, with a performance
of the Christmas carol “Jingle Bells”.
FIRST PRIVATE-CITIZEN ORBITAL MISSION
On 16 Sep 2021, the Inspiration4 civilian spaceflight
mission launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from
Kennedy Space Center, Florida. On board were (left
to right) mission organizer Jared Isaacman, medic
Hayley Arceneaux, flight engineer Chris Sembroski
and pilot Sian Proctor (all USA). Isaacman
contracted SpaceX to fly a Crew Dragon spacecraft
for the mission, which raised more than $200 m
(£144 m) for the St Jude children’s cancer charity.
First person to eat in space
During his historic 108-min Vostok 1 mission (the first crewed
spaceflight) on 12 Apr 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin ate
a meal of beef and liver paste from an aluminium tube. This
was followed up with a dessert of chocolate spread.
First person to vomit in space
Space sickness is a form of kinetosis (motion sickness) caused by
the disorientation that comes with weightlessness. The earliest
victim was Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov, who experienced
nausea and vomiting during the course of his Vostok 2 flight on
6 Aug 1961. Some form of space sickness is felt by around half of
all people who fly in space, but symptoms usually disappear after
the first day or two in orbit.
First musical performance in space
The dual-spacecraft Vostok 3/4 mission saw cosmonauts Andriyan
Nikolayev and Pavel Popovich launched into space 24 hr apart
on 11 and 12 Aug 1962, respectively. They were in direct radio
communication for much of their flight and took advantage of
this instant link to sing songs for the benefit of ground control.
The first musical instruments in space were a Hohner “Little
Lady” harmonica and a set of small sleigh bells. They
were smuggled on board the Gemini VI mission
First food grown in space
During their 61-day stay on the Salyut 4 space station in 1975,
cosmonauts Pyotr Klimuk and Vitaly Sevastyanov used the
Oasis‑1M greenhouse to grow a crop of small spring onions, which
they then ate with Sevastyanov’s 40th-birthday dinner on 8 Jul.
On 26 Sep 2019, bovine cells harvested by food-tech start-up
Aleph Farms (ISR) cultivated the first lab-grown meat in space
on the International Space Station (ISS).
First people to vote in space
While on board the Mir space station, cosmonauts Yuri
Onufriyenko and Yury Usachov (both RUS) voted in the Russian
presidential election on 16 Jun 1996 via proxies on Earth.
In 1997, Texas legislature changed the law on absentee voting,
allowing David Wolf (USA) to vote in a local US election from Mir,
making him the first US astronaut to do so from space.
First fire on a space station
On 23 Feb 1997, a fire broke out on Mir when lithium perchlorate
“candles” – which are heated in order to release oxygen –
malfunctioned. Although it was extinguished, the crew came close
to abandoning the space station in their Soyuz “lifeboat”.
Most accumulated time on spacewalks
Cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev (RUS) accrued a total of 82 hr
22 min in open space between 1988 and 1998, all while working
on Mir. His 16 spacewalks included seven emergency repair
missions conducted during Mir Expedition 24, following a collision
with a resupply ship (see p.23).
The female spacewalk record is held by NASA astronaut
Peggy Whitson (USA), who spent 60 hr 21 min working on the
exterior of the ISS between 2002 and 2017. Over the course of her
career, Whitson spent 665 days 22 hr 22 min in orbit, the most
accumulated time in space (female).
Most expensive toilet system
The Space Shuttle Endeavour launched in Jan 1993 with a new
unisex toilet. Housed on the Shuttle’s mid deck, the $30‑m
(£19.4-m) facility was described by NASA as a “complete sewage
collection and treatment plant... contained in a space one half
the size of a telephone booth”. The toilet, which had 4,000 parts,
included foot holds to keep the user in place.
In 2019, NASA announced that
it would be opening the ISS to
space tourists, thereby creating
the world’s most high-tech
self-catering rental. A spot in
this Space-BnB costs a suitably
skyscraping $1.1 m (£815,200)
a night, but what do you get
for your money?
Internet and office
WiFi
Available throughout
the station
Workspaces
Around 100 tablets
and laptops
Laboratory
equipment
Fume hoods, glove
boxes, freezers
Kitchen and dining
Galley
Food-package
hydrator, extensive
menu
Table
With handles to hold
on to
Coffee maker
The Italian-made
“ISSpresso”
Facilities and services
Free parking
on premises
Eight docking or
berthing ports
Long-term stays
allowed
Up to 437 days
Weightless
environment
In a state of
continuous freefall
Secluded
The neighbours are
408 km (253 mi) below
LARGEST MENU IN SPACE
Space food has come a long way
since Yuri Gagarin’s tube of meat
paste (see above left). As of
16 Nov 2021, the menu available
to US astronauts comprises
200 standard items plus many
more occasional treats that
are sent up from time to time.
The Russian crew have a menu
that is reportedly even larger,
including some 300 items.
20
Gym
Treadmill, exercise
bike, weight
machines
Not included
Bath/shower
Patio or balcony
Washing machine
Oven