Haven't signed into your Scholastic account before?
Teachers, not yet a subscriber?
Subscribers receive access to the website and print magazine.
You are being redirecting to Scholastic's authentication page...
Announcements & Tutorials
Explore our NEW Text Set: Celebrating Black History and Voices!
How Students and Families Can Log In
1 min.
Setting Up Student View
Sharing Articles with Your Students
2 min.
Interactive Activities
4 min.
Sharing Videos with Students
Using Scholastic News with Educational Apps
5 min.
Join Our Facebook Group!
Exploring the Archives
Powerful Differentiation Tools
3 min.
Planning With the Pacing Guide
Subscriber Only Resources
Access this article and hundreds more like it with a subscription to Scholastic News magazine.
Illustration by Gary Hanna
Article Options
Presentation View
A Home in Space
What's life like on a space station? Take an amazing tour with astronaut Christina Koch.
J Marshall - Tribaleye Images/Alamy Stock Photo
This article explores this part of the International Space Station.
RUMBLE! ROAR! Those were the sounds of a rocket blasting off from Earth 20 years ago this month. Two days later, that rocket had delivered the first people to live on the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is a giant lab that orbits Earth.
In the two decades since, space travelers from more than 19 countries have spent time on the ISS. They do experiments, including ones that will prepare astronauts for future missions to Mars. The ISS has grown from a few small rooms, called modules, to a space station the size of a football field.
What’s life like on the ISS? We asked Christina Koch. She returned home to Texas in February after spending 328 days in a row on the ISS—longer than any other woman.
Sleep Tight
Gravity is much weaker in space. That means objects and people float. Astronauts zip themselves into sleeping bags strapped to the walls. That keeps them in place. But their arms still float.
“It’s a lot of fun, as long as you don’t mind looking silly,” Koch says.
NASA/JSC
Get to Work!
Astronauts do experiments all day, like testing how different foods grow in space.
NASA
Take a Seat
Everything floats in space, so the ISS toilets use air flow to pull solid waste away from the astronauts and into plastic bags.
“For liquid waste, we use a little funnel,” Koch explains. “It all gets captured and recycled back into our drinking water!”
A new $23 million toilet like this one is set for delivery to the ISS this year.
Floating Food
The ISS doesn’t have refrigerators. Astronauts eat a lot of freeze-dried foods that last for months. Sandwiches would float off plates. So most meals are mashed up and slurped from bags.
“The food is actually good!” says Koch.
Space Walking
Koch and Jessica Meir made history in October 2019. They became the first all-female team to go on a spacewalk outside the ISS. Astronauts can make repairs during spacewalks.
1. How has the International Space Station changed over time?
2. Who did the author speak with in order to learn about life on the space station? Why?
3. Based on the information in the diagram, what is a spacewalk?