Think astronauts are always on duty on the International Space Station? Well you'd be wrong. Even astronauts get time off in space, and holiday, says the German Aerospace Center's Volker Schmid.
Tidying up is important, especially if the work has to be left until the next day. Image: NASA/ESA/picture-alliance/dpa
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DW: Astronauts are expected to conduct a wealth of experiments on the International Space Station (ISS). They also have a lot of other tasks, like maintenance work. So how is a working day organized in space? Do astronauts get free time, as we do on Earth?
Volker Schmid: An astronaut's working day is not so different from that on Earth. Of course, it is a unique environment, but they work eight hours, sometimes nine or ten hours if a job requires overtime, just like in normal life.
Then there are eight hours of sleep and two hours of sports every day. That's important to ensure an astronaut's muscles, bones and metabolism function well.
The rest consists of eating, body care and social contacts, like calling home, joining a video conference, or watching a movie in their free time. Sometimes there are briefings with colleagues after work. But on the whole it's not so different, except that the pace is determined by the planners on the ground. They make sure that all of the 300 experiments on the Horizons mission [Ed.: the current ISS mission for which Schmid is responsible] can be carried out as well as possible.
And besides the science, research, eating, body care and leisure what else is there to do?
Volker Schmid heads the planning and supervision of DLR research projects on the Horizons MissionImage: DW/F. Schmidt
There is all the traffic with the transport vehicles that arrive every now and then. They have to be unloaded and loaded. The cargo needs to be repackaged, installed, switched on, and checked to make sure it's running smoothly. It's all part of everyday life.
It's like on Earth: Saturday is half a working day. The other half is reserved for cleaning the spaceship. Sunday is free. And there are holidays too.
Which holidays do they observe on the ISS? There are German, American and Russian holidays. Do the astronauts and cosmonauts have different holidays?
Yes, they have their specific holidays. But they're not always so strictly observed. Independence Day in the US is usually a holiday, and there's not much going on up there. But as for German Unity Day on October 3, we already know that German astronaut Alexander Gerst will have some work to do as commander.
Two hours of sport is the daily minimum. In 2016, British astronaut Tim Peake ran the London Marathon in space.Image: picture alliance/dpa/H. Kaiser
Do the astronauts also take on voluntary tasks, such as projects that they are not allowed to carry out during working hours?
Yes, on weekends or in their free time they are often busy with educational programs. They carry out so-called trouser pocket experiments for students who have developed them in their class.
Even if Alexander Gerst takes photos of the Earth and then posts them on Twitter, he has to do that in his spare time. So he lets us take part in his weekends.
And does that also include experiments for the German TV show for kids, "Sendung mit der Maus" ("The Show with the Mouse"), and experiments that kids have programmed for the "Astro-Pi", this educational computer ...
Yes, that's exactly what he cares about: working with kids.
It is important for the next generation of scientists. We want to inspire young people to take up physics, technology, engineering and other sciences. We'll need them in the future. And what could be cooler for a school or student team than having an experiment of yours running up there on the ISS? You can't beat that.
So it's worth sacrificing your free time for it, even if you work overtime. Do astronauts get compensated for overtime? Or do they take the time when they're back on earth?
Whether an astronaut works eight or ten hours up there, the day always has 24 hours. No one's going to claim compensation time up there. Whatever has to be done is done. And the astronauts like to do it. Everybody tries to get the most out of the mission, no matter how long it takes and no matter how much effort it takes.
Soap bubbles for a student experiment. This is what Alexander Gerst does in his spare time. Image: DLR/ESA/picture-alliance/dpa
But it's also important that the astronauts get sleep, because if they don't, the work suffers. So what do the astronauts do when they realize they can't finish in time? Do they leave experiments half-finished until the next day, or whenever there's time to continue?
Well if it's almost the end of the day, and there's still work to be done, work that might take another few hours, you let it go and see if it's okay to move on. You try not to leave a cable hanging out somewhere, or leave something in a gangway that might cause someone else to stumble.
The astronaut will also check with mission planners on the ground and see if there's anything else that needs doing. There may be something urgent that takes precedence. But the main thing is they leave a project or experiment in a safe and tidy fashion.
In space, German astronaut Alexander Gerst was able to take stunning images of the Earth's surface. Experiments conducted by the international team may also benefit the Earth and its people.
Image: ESA/NASA
More than science
"Hello Berlin, I don't see any borders from up here!" Gerst tweeted on November 9th 2014, the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Apart from conducting a number of experiments in various scientific disciplines, Alexander Gerst had another important mission: to show people on Earth how beautiful and fascinating our "Blue Dot" is.
Image: Alexander Gerst/ESA/picture-alliance/dpa
Breathtaking phenomenon
"Words can't describe how it feels flying through an Aurora" - that's how Alexander Gerst described his experience with this natural phenomenon. Although he found it difficult to capture the experience in words, he was able to conduct research into auroras. One aim was to investigate the influence of our planet's electromagnetic forces on electronic devices at the International Space Station.
Even on Earth, one rarely gets to see the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. Alexander Gerst was fortunate to get this great shot from space of the Northern Lights in the polar region.
Image: ESA/NASA
Geochallenge
It is neither a mountain, nor a vulcano. In fact, this picture taken by Alexander Gerst shows Barringer Meteorite Crater in Arizona. Gerst would often share his photos on social media with the hashtag #geochallenge, challenging the public to try and figure out where the geographical feature might be.
It looks like a tiny hole, but actually measures 80 kilometers (50 miles) wide. Despite its interesting appearance, typhoons like this one can cause tremendous damage on the Earth's surface. "From up here it is surprisingly obvious that our world is one connected system," Gerst observed from space.
On thing that makes Alexander Gerst's photos so beautiful and fascinating is how they are unstaged, authentic snapshots. In this image, which Gerst tweeted as the saddest photo he's taken yet, explosions and rockets are visible in Gaza and Israel.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/ESA/NASA
Scientific purposes
Gerst's images, including this one of windswept valleys in North Africa, can be compared to previous, similar images. This helps scientists observe changes on the Earth's surface and determine whether they are natural or manmade.
The circles on this image are not the work of aliens, but rather irrigated agricultural fields in arid regions of Mexico. Some of Gerst's experiments dealt with food - for example, the astronauts grew edible plants on the space station to see if they could develop methods to use water more efficiently.
Image: ESA/NASA
Works of art
Some images Gerst took look like the works of a talented painter. This image shows a river in Kazakhstan snaking its way through the landscape. Defunct bends of the river are also visible, and one can imagine how it's likely to change course again in the future.
Image: ESA/NASA
Different view of infinity
"When light from the Cupola tints ISS orange inside, I can tell we're over Africa without even looking out the window," Gerst had tweeted. The Sahara Desert is perceived to be endless - when one is in it. But as this image of Libya shows, even the sand dunes there have a beginning and an end.
Image: ESA/NASA
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Baikonur - from Soviet space port to an international astronaut hub
The space port in Kazakhstan was home to the first Sputnik satellites. Later, all cosmonauts took off from here. The space stations MIR and part of the ISS were launched, and all of today's astronauts start here.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/AP/D. Lovetsky
On the way to the launchpad
A Soyuz rocket is on the way to its launchpad in Baikonur. German astronaut Alexander Gerst will take off - along with a Russian and US colleague - on June 6 to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard such a rocket.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/AP/D. Lovetsky
Famous predecessors
The first mammals that safely went to space and back took of from Baikonur: Belka and Strelka travelled along with a rabbit, 40 mice and two rats. All were safely recovered in the Kazakh desert. It was the first proof that manned space travel was possible.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/ Heritage Images
The first man in space
Yuri Gagarin took off on April 12, 1961 from Baikonur. He was the first man to circle Earth in a full orbit. Trained as a metal caster, Gagarin was still in training to become a military pilot when he was chosen as a cosmonaut for the first flight.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Safe landing
Gagarin's space capsule after successfully landing in Kazakhstan. His flight established the cosmodrome in Baikonur for the coming centuries as the main Soviet center for space exploration. Additionally, the Soviet Union built its Star City near Moscow as a center for research and development.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
The first woman in space
Valentina Tereshkova gives a salute before departing into space on June 16, 1963 from Baikonur. For the Soviet Union, the flight was a strong and confident signal for the emancipation of women.
Image: picture-alliance/Heritage Images
Soviet, Russian, Kazakh
A statue of Lenin in Baikonur against the backdrop of a cloud-covered super moon on November 14, 2016. Soviet heritage is clearly visible in the city of Baikonur. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the cosmodrome remained Russian sovereign territory. Russia signed a contract with Kazakhstan until 2050.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. Lovetsky
Where space travellers from all over the world come and go
Since the end of NASA's Space Shuttle program, the cosmodrome in Baikonur has been the only place on Earth for manned space travel. All flights are conducted with Soyuz spaceships, and all go to the ISS. Here are: Randolph Bresnik (NASA), Paolo Nespoli (ESA) and Sergei Ryazansky (Roskosmos) boarding in July 2017.
Image: picture-alliance/TASS/Y. Smityuk
Launching commercial cargo
There is more competition for satellite launches: ESA has it's space port in Kourou, NASA several in the US. Nonetheless, Baikonur is serving more and more western companies looking to put cargo into orbit. This Proton roket is carrying British telecommunication satellites.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
Proven workhorse
Right now, the preparations are in high gear for a new Soyus launch with three travellers to the ISS - like on this older picture.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Sitdikov
Experience, never routine
Alexander Gerst knows the procedures: May 28, 2014 was his last time getting into the Soyuz capsule for a launch. This time around excitement is just as high.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/EPA/S. Ilnitsky
A new spaceport in Siberia
Russia does not want to meke itself totally dependent on Kazakhstan. Since last year it began launching rockets from its new spaceport Vostochny in the Amur region of Siberia. For security reasons, no manned space travel is allowed there, yet. But satellites are already being launched into orbit. After all, Baikonur will still continue to serve more generations of cosmonauts and astronauts.
