Life on the Space Station

At this very moment, about 400 kilometers above your head, seven astronauts are living and are working on the International Space Station. The station is flying around the Earth at 28,000 kilometers an hour. It goes around the whole planet every 90 minutes!

Life on the station is very different. There is almost no gravity, so everything floats. Right now, one astronaut is eating breakfast — but he is not sitting at a table. He is floating next to the window, and his food is floating too! Astronauts drink from bags with straws, because water does not stay in a cup.

In the lab, two astronauts are doing an experiment. They are growing lettuce in space. Scientists on Earth want to know: can people grow their own food on a long trip to Mars?

Commander David Levi is looking out of the window. Below him, the sun is rising over Africa. Astronauts see sixteen sunrises every day! “I never get tired of this view,” he says. “Every time I look, the Earth is changing.”