Thse insights have been pulled from the individual experiences of astronauts and cosmonauts recorded in published first person accounts — journals, diaries, debriefs, and post-flight reflections.As this database includes the personal, subjective experiences from a diversity of flyers, they may sometimes contradict, but together they provide a more holistic, if messy, picture of life in space. To learn more about how these categories were developed, please see this related publication.
“The best part of exercise is that, aside from sleep, it’s the only time the brain gets to take a break. …the time is accounted for already – it’s been given to exercise time, and so we feel we can mentally do what we want.”
“Two weeks here and just now beginning to sense that I smell bad. Or maybe it’s me and my crewmates. But on weekends we can throw away some old clothes, scrub ourselves down well after the workouts, and put on brand new clothes.”
“The ARED is my sanctuary. I don’t wear iPods or watch any movies while working out on it. Often there is a soft blue light overhead: the cupola transmitting Earth albedo.”
“Riding on the [bike] today listening to my music… The song reminded me of the days when I dreamed of being an astronaut. Now I am living in space and preparing for a spacewalk. Wow!”