SPACE JOURNAL HELENA DEBANG

International Space Station

The International Space Station earned its name from the many nations that participated. These include the following: Russia, USA, Sweden, Japan, Canada, Belgium, France, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Great Britain. It’s really international!

Unity, Harmony, Tranquility (aka, Nodes 1,2 and 3) The nodes are connectors, but also places for sleeping and exercising. Unity Harmony Tranquility

Dear Diary, When you sleep, it doesn’t matter whether you’re up, down, or sideways, you’ll feel like you’re upright. Also, when you sleep your arms drift in front of you!

Dear Diary, Exercising in space isn’t easy. You strap yourself to a treadmill and run! The straps could make your skin sore though. Today I slipped. I don’t know how Suni Williams ran a marathon on that thing!

Zvezda and Zarya are connected. They are the Russian part of the ISS. On Zvezda, there is a freezer and refrigerator. Zvezda/Zarya ZvezdaZarya

Dear Diary, Eating in space is tricky. If you’re not careful, your food will float away! I tried making a hot dog, but it was a disaster! Most of the food is dehydrated, so to cook it you have to put water in it.

Quest Quest is the airlock where space suits are kept. It allows the astronauts to go outside to do their spacewalks, while not letting any oxygen leak outside.

Dear Diary, Kyle and I spent the night in the airlock getting used to the low pressure of the spacesuit. We (NASA) call this “camping out.” It’s like going slowly up Mt. Everest to get used to low pressure.

Pirs/Rassvet Pirs and Rassvet are docking ports. These were built by the Russians. PirsRassvet

Dear Diary, The docking stations are like the garage in my home. I flew the Soyuz into Pirs. I almost crashed into its side.

Canadarm 2 Canadarm 2 is huge. It is 55 feet long. It is used to move parts of the ISS. It also helps with construction of the ISS.

Dear Diary, Kyle put a good scare into me when he made Canadarm grab me by the waist while I was putting some finishing touches on the Cupola.

Cupola The Cupola has 7 windows. It is the observatory module. Did you know that an astronaut’s favorite activity is looking back at Earth?

Dear Diary, Today I started to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come down my cheeks! That’s because there’s microgravity! I cried because the Earth is so beautiful.

Columbus/Kibō/Destiny Columbus is the European lab module, Kibō is the Japanese lab module, and Destiny is the American lab. Columbus Kibō Destiny

Dear Diary, Kyle went to the Columbus lab to see how water boils in microgravity. Kyle told me that it only heats up where the heat source is. It was so cool to watch the big water bubble in the middle.

Leonardo Leonardo was like a moving van, but now it is a storage closet. It holds a lot of cargo. It also holds trash.

I had a great trip on the ISS! I think the ISS is like home because it has a bathroom, and a kitchen, and a bedroom! However, unlike back on Earth, there is no gravity, so it makes it hard to do everyday things like sleeping and eating.

Sources Goodman, Susan E., How Do You Burp in Space? And Other Tips Every Space Tourist Needs to Know. Illustrated by Michael Slack. USA: Bloomsbury Childrens Books, Branley, Franklin M., The International Space Station. Illustrated by True Kelley. New York: HarperCollins, Editors of YES Magazine, The Amazing International Space Station. New York: Kids Can Press, NASA ISS (DVD): A Tour of the International Space Station. nasa.gov Wikipedia.com esa.int