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Living in space is different than living on Earth because of gravity.

How do astronauts deal with the differences?

 


Orbiting Space Craft
Gravity and Microgravity
Gravity is a universal force on Earth and affects everything. If we drop a cup of pudding on Earth, it falls to the floor. Without gravity, objects would float off into space.

If an astronaut drops a cup of pudding in the Space Shuttle or the International Space Station, it falls too, but doesn't look like it's falling. That's because the pudding, the astronauts, and the spacecraft are all falling together at the same rate, while at the same time traveling around the Earth. Since they're all falling, objects appear to float in a state called "microgravity," in which the effects of gravity seem reduced to almost nothing. Gravity tries to pull the spacecraft to the Earth, but it is traveling so fast that it falls around the Earth, in a path we call an "orbit."
Items such as food, science experiments, and exercise equipment must all be attached to the spacecraft so they don't float around in the cabins. Astronauts float too. When they want to stay still enough to eat, work, exercise, or sleep, astronauts hold onto one of the many handles or attach themselves to the spacecraft. MOR