Episode description: Have you ever dreamed of spending a day in space? Humans have lived aboard the International Space Station for 25 years—or more than 9,000 consecutive days. In this episode originally published in 2021, experience a day in the life of astronauts Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, and Thomas Pesquet living and working on the International Space Station.
[Music: Curiosity by SYSTEM Sounds]
PADI BOYD: You’re listening to NASA’s Curious Universe. I’m your host, Padi Boyd. Above Earth’s surface, an international team is living in a space station, conducting scientific research, and orbiting Earth at five miles per second. And here’s the really cool part: that sentence is old news.
This fall, the International Space Station reached 25 years of continuous occupation. Think about how incredible that is: an unbroken streak of humans living hundreds of miles above Earth’s surface. That’s 25 years of sending astronauts to space and back, 25 years of international cooperation, and 25 years of science that is paving the way for humans to return to the Moon and take the next giant leap to Mars.
A day in space. NASA astronauts Megan McArthur (left), Shane Kimbrough (center) and Mark Vande Hei work inside U.S. Destiny laboratory module aboard the International Space Station.
So to celebrate the big anniversary, we’re revisiting one of our favorite episodes. It’s called “A Day In Space”. And it lets you experience the ISS through the ears of astronauts who live there. This episode was recorded in 2021, and some details you’re about to hear have changed since then. The number of science experiments on ISS keeps going up. It is now over 4,000. And some of the experiments from back then have changed or are no longer active. After you listen, you can catch up on the latest ISS news at nasa.gov/station.
OK, here we go.
[Song: 11 Alive Underscore by Spoof]
Shane Kimbrough: Hello, everyone, I’m actually in the Dragon spacecraft now called Endeavour. This was the vehicle that we flew up on, and just want to give you some sounds of this vehicle.
Thomas Pesquet: Welcome to safety tour of Space Station. I’m your captain today.
Megan McArthur: Right now, I’m in the node one module of the International Space Station, which is where we prepare and eat our meals. And node one is right next to node three, which is where we typically conduct our exercise, we have a treadmill…
HOST PADI BOYD: Hi Curious Universe listeners. We have a very exciting episode for you today to finish out season three of NASA’s Curious Universe.
HOST PADI BOYD: Right now, in August of 2021, there are seven people living and working aboard the International Space Station.
HOST PADI BOYD: A few weeks ago, we asked some of those astronauts, NASA’s Shane Kimbrough, and Megan McArthur, and European Space Agency’s Thomas Pesquet, to take their microphones and walk us, or should I say “float us”, through a day in space.
HOST PADI BOYD: We’re excited to share the audio that they recorded in this episode. So let’s listen in on our explorers on the International Space Station…and find out what a day in space really sounds like!
Ground Control: Station, this is Houston. Are you ready for the event?
Megan McArthur: Houston, we are ready.
[Theme Song: Curiosity by SYSTEM Sounds]
Shane Kimbrough: Hello, I’m in one of the sleep stations on the International Space Station. We call it crew quarters.
HOST PADI BOYD: This is Shane Kimbrough. Shane …