What do astronauts do? - The Norwegian Space Centre

What do astronauts do? - The Norwegian Space Centre

What do astronauts do?

Everyone knows that astronauts work in space. But what do they do out there?

Some astronauts are mission specialists who fly or navigate the space shuttle. In other words, they are pilots. Other astronauts are payload specialists who work with the equipment that is launched into space, for instance conducting scientific experiments or replacing parts of satellites.

In brief,

an astronaut’s tasks divide into four areas: supply, repair, assembly and research, not to mention self-care.

Supply

A considerable amount of equipment is orbited in space. Unmanned rockets launch most satellites. However, some are carried into orbit in the payload bay of a space shuttle and launched by its crew. Currently,
astronauts work mostly with transport of equipment, new modules, supplies and crews for the international space station.

Repair and maintenance

Cosmonaut Vladimir Dezhurov at work in the Zvezda-module. Photo: NASA.

Sometimes astronauts visit orbiting satellites for maintenance and repair. Often they work using the space shuttle’s robotic arms, but sometimes they pull a satellite into the payload bay so they may work more leisurely. Sometimes they put on their space suits and soar to a satellite that is moving at a speed of seven kilometres a second or more.

On the space station, there’s always more than enough to do, and astronauts spend much of their time keeping the station in tip-top condition, both inside and outside. Almost daily, they take spacewalks to tidy up around the station.

Assembly

First and foremost, the station itself must be assembled. New modules arrive regularly, and the tasks of attaching them to the station are time consuming.

Self-care

Weightlessness requires astronauts to spend a considerable amount of time on exercise and self care. Exercise in space is so important that it’s part of the job, a duty that cannot be shirked. Astronauts exercise every day. Space shuttle astronauts, who seldom are in space for more than two weeks at a time, exercise half an hour a day. But astronauts on the space station must exercise two hours a day to stay healthy.

So astronauts have more than enough to keep themselves busy and seldom have time to be bored on the job. An astronaut with spare time can just gaze out the window…

Relevant links:

European astronauts

An ESA page presenting the European astronauts with bios, photos, and historic data.