Hello, I watched some of the “spacewalk” this morning of the Polaris Dawn mission. Out of curiosity, I researched images and videos of the capsule, schematics of the capsule’s design, etc. I also learned the mission lasts 5 days. But looking at the capsule, it looks to be like a cockpit only. What gets me is the fact that the astronauts are in that capsule for 5 days! It makes me wonder, where/how do they sleep, move about, eat, stretch, use the bathroom? They are squished in there as it is…could someone please explain to me how it works like I’m 5? Much appreciated!
In: Planetary Science
I would guess its a lot like the Apollo capsule. Once you have zero gravity, it feels a lot roomier. The “toilet area” for Apollo was behind the seats for privacy.
The smells aren’t great either. I believe on the Gemini missions, they used permanent diapers or something instead of a toilet. When they returned after a week or so in orbit, the capsule smelled like an unflushed toilet
It is quite cramped. Astronauts often compare it to sharing a tent when camping. Or more like camping in a small car. There is enough room for all the tasks they need, but no room for privacy. Especially when they get in zero gravity they can use the vertical space much more efficiently. The seats do fold out a bit when needed.
To sleep they can loosely strap into the seats, or they can velcro themselves to the walls, or they can just float around the capsule as they sleep. But they all just sleep in the same room. Moving about can be a bit cramped and there will be lots of squeezing past each other and having to move out of the way for each other. But there is space enough. Eating is done by rehydrating packets of dried food and finding a corner of the capsule to float around and eat. No tables and IIRC they don’t even have any way to heat the food. The bathroom is also in the open. They have a toilet on the spacecraft, which is basically just a vacuum that you connect to yourself. I am not sure the exact arrangement on Dragon, but they might have some sort of curtain for a bit of privacy. However I doubt it is a full curtain. As a backup in case the toilet have issues they have ziplock bags.
It is cramped and there is no privacy. But it can be compared to a camping trip, or a military field trip. Since it is only for 4 days the astronauts can live in these conditions. It was actually worse for the Gemini spacecraft. It was much smaller then the Dragon, even per crew. They had to stay in the seats during the entire trip, except for the EVA, as there were no room to move around. There is a bit more room on the ISS, and the astronauts can go into different rooms. And the toilet have its own closet. There is also a tiny bit of private space for astronauts to sleep and keep their personal items. But there is still very little privacy. During the skylab missions the astronauts did go on strike for a day to improve their working conditions. So this is something that space organisations have to be aware of and pay attention to. But having to endure 4 days of cramped living conditions with others is generally worth it in order to get to go to space.
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