About This Quiz
Ever wanted to know what it was like to be astronaut Mike Dexter? Take this quiz to test how well you'd do in microgravity.The ISS orbits about 240 miles (386.2 kilometers) above Earth; consider that a plane flies about 7 or 8 miles (11.3 or 12.9 kilometers) up.
No rest for the space-weary. Astronauts spend their days performing research in microgravity but also have to spend a lot of their time making sure their equipment -- and living space -- is in good working order.
There are no refrigerators on the ISS, so fresh fruit and veggies aren't easy to come by (unless a cargo load or shuttle has just arrived). But they can use an oven -- and an espresso machine when they need a quick pick-me-up.
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Unfortunately, space isn't the place to let your routine slide. To prevent bone and muscle loss, our spacey friends must exercise every day.
Just like any other working stiff, astronauts get weekends -- and holidays -- off.
Sure, bracing yourself to poop or using a personal urine funnel might seem fun at first, but you'd never lose the thrill of a vacuum toilet.
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While showering proves tricky in space (and thus necessitates nothing more than a soapy wash cloth for bathing), astronauts do use a rinseless shampoo to keep their locks shiny and clean.
Nutritionists know that nobody likes days of leftovers; astronauts are given 16 different meal plans to cycle through.
After packing trash bags super tight, they're packed off with the next shuttle that leaves -- and burned in the atmosphere on re-entry.
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It's not a castle, but each astronaut does get living quarters -- which happen to be only about a quarter of the space you'd actually need. They sleep, change clothes or just hang out and relax there during any solitary downtime.