What do they do on the space station?

Forgive me if this has been answered before in a previous thread but I was wondering, with all the insightful people here on ATS, can anyone speculate on what the astronauts are doing on a day to day basis while they are in the I.S.S.? Although they claim to be doing experiments it seems to me that there is probably more to it than that and I would like to solicit members thoughts on this. Thanks.

The do various scientific test. Learn as much as the can about space life to further knowledge on the subject. Conduct zero g experiments to see how they effect this and that.

spaceflight1.nasa.gov...


Just remember there are no stupid questions only stupid people

[edit on 16-2-2007 by Royal76]

Well, the ISS is still in the early stages of assembly. There's only 4 pressurized compartments, which one solely houses electronics. The other three consist of a cargo hold, a laboratory and a service module. The service module houses all the backup equipment such as thrusters, propellant, etc. and assembly of various other systems. The service module also contains the living quarters, a small exercise area, the refridgerator, place to eat, sleep, life support systems etc..

Which is basically the whole ISS right now, which leaves them pretty much absolutely nothing to do besides zero gravity expirements at the moment.

The ISS is also understaffed at the moment, so I think a lot of there time is spent maintaining the station. I believe the next ISS crew replacement will bump it up to 4, and then to 5 on the one after that. With more people to share the work load, the more experiments and other things they can spend time on.

The astronauts take each others blood pressure. The project is largely meant to create jobs and increase manufacturing capacity of the contracting companies. The station itself is almost a complete waste at $100 billion.

Originally posted by etotheitheta
The astronauts take each others blood pressure. The project is largely meant to create jobs and increase manufacturing capacity of the contracting companies. The station itself is almost a complete waste at $100 billion.

The whole space station program itself is the experiment.

Most people agree that we're eventually going to build a base on the moon and then create a permanent presence on Mars. I suppose you're suggesting that everything we need to know to build and occupy a base on Mars, we should learn "on the fly". I think that our eventual migration to other worlds is done more porperly in "baby steps" i.e. lets learn how to build and live 200 miles above the Earth before we do it 200,000,000 miles from Earth.

Or maybe you think humans should stay on Earth forever, and never venture beyond?

[edit on 17-2-2007 by Soylent Green Is People]