(ORDO NEWS) — Did you know that the mass of the International Space Station is about 418 tons?
Is there gravity in space?
Many people believe that there is no gravity in space. This is not entirely true. The International Space Station is located at an altitude of 350 km above the Earth. Therefore, the acceleration of free fall in this case (remember the school curriculum in physics) is only 10% less than on the surface of the Earth.
If the station did not move at its own speed, then, indeed, it would immediately fall on the heads of earthlings. However, the ISS develops tremendous speed, which, together with the force of gravity, gives in total orbital motion.
Sunrise and sunset 16 times a day
The ISS makes one revolution around the Earth every 90 minutes. As a result, astronauts aboard the International Space Station observe a peculiar sunrise and sunset 16 times a day and 5,840 times a year. The network has a lot of amazing pictures taken from the board of the station.
The fate of the first Malaysian astronaut
Sheikh Muzafar Shukor was the first Malaysian astronaut. When planning his first flight, Shukor encountered a very unusual problem. The fact is that this astronaut is a Muslim, which means that he needs to pray five times a day.
In addition, the flight coincided with the month of Ramadan, when Muslims practice fasting from dawn to dusk. Remember we mentioned that sunrise and sunset happen every 90 minutes on the ISS? This meant that Shukor would have problems, because the time of prayer in Islam is determined by the position of the Sun in the sky.
Muslims also need to address God by sitting towards Mecca, whose position relative to the ISS changes every second. As a result, a council of 150 clergy allowed Shukor to deviate a little from the existing rules, but the case is nevertheless very funny.
Obviously, there is no washing machine on board the ISS. But how do astronauts solve the clothing problem ? One option is to go to the ISS with enough supplies to last the entire mission. But it costs $5,000-$10,000 for every 500 grams of cargo, and such expenses are unreasonably high.
Astronauts can’t get their dirty laundry back to Earth because there isn’t enough space on the lander. Therefore, unmanned spacecraft are periodically sent to the ISS, which can make one-way trips.
As soon as the apparatus approaches the station, the astronauts unload the supplies that have arrived and fill the voids with garbage and dirty clothes. The spacecraft and everything in it burns up in the sky over the Pacific Ocean.
Sports on the ISS
As you know, a person loses muscle and bone mass if he is in space long enough. Therefore, all astronauts are ordered to train every day for at least two hours.
The training equipment on the ISS is very different from the typical equipment found in a fitness club. Since the astronauts are in zero gravity on board, specialized simulators have been developed for training.
“Space” weapons
By the way, astronauts have weapons. It is designed to defend against wild animals after landing on Earth. The weapon is not stored on the ISS itself, but on the descent vehicle.
How much does the ISS cost?
The ISS is the most expensive project in the history of mankind. With the joint efforts of the USA, Canada, Japan, Russia, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Switzerland and Sweden, $150,000,000,000 was invested in the construction and maintenance of the station.
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