The appropriately named Mariella Moon spoke with an astronaut to find out what life on the International Space Station (ISS) is like. Some of the more interesting highlights include:

• The ISS orbits the earth every 90 minutes which means that those onboard go through 16 sunsets and rises a day.
• Now that America has retired its space shuttle program, astronauts hitch rides on the Russian Soyuz craft to get to the Space Station. It costs $71 million per person.
• A condition to get on the Soyuz is the ability to speak Russian.
• In 2011 the ISS got internet although it was incredibly slow at first. These days astronauts can browse the web at speeds of 300 Mbps.
• However crew members report that the best form of entertainment is simply to look out the window at the planet below. (They’ve clearly never been exposed to Centives).
• Astronauts are allowed to sleep 8.5 hours a day every 24 hours. Most wake up after six though since the body is less tired in microgravity.

The full article includes many more details including a sample daily schedule, experiments that are done, and how triathlons are done in space. Read it here.

Source: Engadget