Walktopia Weekly News, Vol. 1, No. 5

WALKING AND OUTER SPACE
Did you know that the International Space Station's equipment list includes proton rockets, solar cells and a TREADMILL!? Yep, our good ole’ friend, the treadmill isn’t just a clothes hanger in the den anymore—it’s also a permanent fixture in outer space. This week the health-giving ped platform received NASA’s bi-annual maintenance. To mark the occasion, and belatedly celebrate the crew's stellar August missions, we created the following "spacewalks and treadmills" Q&A.

Special thanks to NASA Spokesperson Kylie Clem.

Q: Why take a treadmill to outer space? Why not a thigh master or an ab blaster?
A: Because astronauts must have aerobic exercise.

Q: What’s the astronaut’s exercise routine?
A: Treadmill “walking” (actually running) is half of the 2.5 hours of daily exercise mandated by NASA docs. Other components are bike riding and working out with a specially-designed weight/resistance device (because you can’t really lift weights in space).

Pictured right: Astronaut Jeffrey N. Williams, Expedition 13 NASA space station science officer and flight engineer, equipped with a bungee harness, exercises in space on the Treadmill Vibration Isolation System (TVIS).

Q: What’s different about treadmilling in space?
A: The biggest difference is you must wear a harness during the workout because there’s no gravity.

Q: How does treadmilling counteract weightlessness?
A: Treadmill exercise helps the astronauts maintain bone and muscle mass. When you don’t have gravity working against your body, you have to keep active and work out more to stay healthy.

Q: Why does the space station treadmill need bi-annual service?
A: The space treadmill is equipped with a special vibration isolation system. That system uses gyroscopes to stabilize itself and isolate vibrations. Exercise vibrations are stopped from being transmitted to the space station's structure where they could disturb sensitive experiments.

Q: What’s a spacewalk?
A: The term originated when astronauts did the first actual walk in space, on the moon. Nowadays, they’re not so much walking but more floating outside the craft with a focus on performing a set of tasks.

Q: Why are spacewalks usually 5-6 hours?
A: The length of a spacewalk is determined by the oxygen supply in the spacesuit. Six hours is the current capacity.

Pictured right: Taken earlier this month, Astronaut Williams on a portion of a 5-hour, 54-minute spacewalk from the International Space Station.

Q: If you’re spacewalking weightless, are you also fatigue-less?
A: No. Wearing a pressurized spacesuit feels like you’re wearing something very stiff. Astronauts use their fingers and hands to install equipment. A spacesuit makes it feel like you’re wearing a bunch of gloves. Another difficult factor: astronauts constantly work their arms in the hand-over-hand motion they use to steady themselves.

Q: Why do astronauts walk in space?
A: Officially, “To Improve Life on Earth and Extend Life Beyond Our Home Planet.” You might say the space station's international crew members are taking the ultimate walk.

SPACE-RELATED TRIVIA
1 :: Number of space shuttle weddings
69 :: Number of spacewalks
$20M :: Cost of being a space shuttle tourist
Emeril :: Chef whose recipes were used for last week’s shuttle meals

Go there: NASA/International Space Station

Visual credit: Used with permission - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Tags: International Space Station,
NASA, Spacewalk