Behind the Scenes at the Space Station: Dr. Jennifer Levasseur Leads an Exciting Virtual Tour

By Jennifer Russo

Can you imagine being an astronaut that is living 250 miles straight up in the air, in a completely weightless environment, for days, months or even years? What might it be like to conduct important scientific research on board the International Space Station (ISS)? How would you sleep, eat and exercise? What would it be like to see not just one sunrise or sunset a day, but sixteen?

Questions like these were recently answered in one of the latest sessions in the Bellingham Public Library’s Author Talks series, where Smithsonian curator and author Dr. Jennifer Levasseur shared what life is like aboard the ISS. She took the audience on a virtual tour of the space facility, explaining how they get up there and sharing details of different compartments and what daily life is like for the astronauts who visit and stay there. It was exciting to learn that there are currently nine astronauts living onboard, including Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams who went up on the Atlas V Starliner in June and are awaiting information on their return to the Earth.

Dr. Levasseur discussed how the design of space stations has changed throughout history. Considerations put into the designs were what kinds of things could be studied in space (including the astronauts themselves), what would be needed for someone to stay long term, how to maintain bone density and muscle tone by including exercise equipment modified for space use, and how to keep such a contained environment clean and sanitized to minimize any illness.

The ISS is the third brightest object in the night sky. Jennifer shares that you can look up when the ISS is flying over your home and easily see it through a telescope.

“There has always been someone onboard the ISS since the year 2000,” says Jennifer. 

“It’s a really busy place…there are visits from vehicles all the time…there are astronauts from Russia, the United States, Canada, and other European and Asian countries there in rotations.”

We learned that there are a considerable number of solar arrays attached to the ISS to provide the electricity for the facility, as well as radiators, which help to release heat from computers on the station to keep a comfortable temperature within. We also learned that there is a large amount of Velcro on the interior surfaces that enables astronauts to keep things secure. They even have Velcro strips attached to their clothing to keep items they are using from floating.

“There are nodes, which are connecting spaces and the living spaces for the astronauts, supply and storage areas, and a really important module called the Destiny Module, where a great deal of science happens, such as conducting research inside a glove box,” Dr. Levasseur tells us.

“One really cool feature of the living space is something called the Cupula, which are really big windows that point straight down toward the earth and where astronauts can view incoming aircraft, take photos, and more.”

For more information on the ISS and how astronauts live and work in space, you can purchase Dr. Levasseur’s children’s book, Behind the Scenes at the Space Station, on Amazon or in bookstores near you.

You can access a virtual tour of the International Space Station by visiting https://www.nasa.gov/feature/iss-virtual-tour/

The Author Talks series is sponsored by the Bellingham Library in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium. For more information on upcoming sessions, go to https://libraryc.org/bellinghamma/upcoming