People on the earth have long developed the habit of "getting up to work at
sunrise and retiring at sunset". So, it is taken for granted to go to sleep at
night. However, the day-night cycle in the orbiting spacecraft is quite
different from that on the earth. It usually takes the spacecraft 90 minutes to
circle the earth once. In other words, there will be 16 days and nights in the
orbiting spacecraft in 24 hours. Due to the extraordinary fast speed that
spacecraft orbits, the sun, when looking at from the spacecraft, will simply
spring up like the lightning when rising and fade away quickly like a
"whirlwind" when setting down.
For the mission of Shenzhou VI, the space experts prepared a very rational
daily schedule for the astronauts to sleep for six straight hours every day in
turn. When one astronaut goes to sleep, the other should be at his work shift.
Since there is no force of gravity in the space, one can't distinguish up
and down, right or left. Astronauts are also weightless in space, so they can
sleep towards any direction, and they also can crawl in their sleeping bags that
are fixed on the wall of the spacecraft to prevent their bodies from drifting
away randomly and bumping into other objects. It also can ensure that the
astronauts keep their backs straight in the sleeping bags.
During the orbiting around the earth, the astronauts also need relax and
recreation besides their normal work and rest. The most popular and easiest way,
but by no means boring, to while away the time is to observe the earth and the
space through the windows of the spacecraft. They can record the charming space
and the mysterious space life with their digital video cameras or cameras and
see even remarkable spectacles that are beyond the vision of the people on the
earth. In the space, the astronauts can also listen to music, read novels, play
games and have phone talks with people on the earth in order to adjust their
psychological state and to relieve their mental pressure. During the space
flight of the Shenzhou VI manned spaceflight, phone talks between the astronauts
and the engineering commanders as well as their family members from the earth
were specially arranged to adjust their psychology, and laptops, carried by the
astronauts, were loaded with the wishes of their family members, shot comedies,
cross-talks, drama, music and games to diversify their life in space.
By Yao Chuan
(Oct. 19, PLA Daily)