About NASA

Ever wondered what it’s like to work in space? The brave men and women of the International Space Station are truly a special breed, but at the end of the day they’re just regular people, going about their jobs. So join us today as we shadow our higher ups and learn all about a day in the life of an ISS astronaut. When hurtling around planet earth at 17,100 mph, standard human notions of day and night start to look pretty silly. In a normal 24 hour stretch, a typical ISS astronaut will see the sun rise, and set, 16 times in total. Human bodies did not evolve that way. So a regular 24-hour earth day is maintained up there, if nothing else to prevent the crew descending into a grim spiral of permanent crippling jet lag.