Pioneering Emirati astronaut Hazzaa Al Mansoori has revealed details of his first three days aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Al Mansoori was speaking during a live radio session with school students and members of the public at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai.
During the Q&A session he talked about his daily routine, whether there was enough food at the ISS, how the station was built, how he spent his free time, how he slept and what astronauts do if they fall sick.
Al Mansoori explained that his day begins at 6am (GMT). “After which, we are given an opportunity to start our personal activities; where we shower and take care of our personal hygiene. Each astronaut aboard the ISS has a different schedule, but we can cooperate on some missions and work together,” he said.
Al Mansoori is capturing his entire experience on film, with the videos uploaded to YouTube and other channels.
In terms of the food he is eating, he said: “Astronaut food is limited to a specific number of calories for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This number is calculated at the ground stations, and food is then sent accordingly to the ISS every two weeks. However, there is spare food in case of failure in arrival.”
Al Mansoori stressed that there are medicines for all diseases aboard the station.
When asked about how he sleeps, Al Mansoori said: “Some astronauts enjoy sleeping with their bodies attached to a wall in ISS, others enjoy sleeping while floating. As for me, I enjoy sleeping while floating”.
As for how he spends his free time, he said that he enjoys looking at the earth from the ISS and waits until it passes above the UAE, so he can take pictures and share with the ground station.
Al Mansoori continued working on an experiment on Fluidics (fluid dynamics in space) in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), to observe how liquids move in weightlessness. After which, he began experiments involving schools in the UAE as part of MBRSC’s Science in Space initiative. The first phase of the initiative witnessed the participation of nearly 16 schools from the UAE.
He will also perform three daily experiments to observe the impact of microgravity on seed germination rates, the growth of aquatic organisms, and the oxidisation rates of steel as well as conducting experiments to study brain DTI, osteology, motor control, time perception in microgravity, fluidics and DNAm-Age.
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