Forget the comfy queen bed: if you’re an astronaut like record-breaking Scott Kelly on the International Space Station, you’re sleeping in what is basically a padded broom closet and using velcro to keep yourself from bumping into things in the night.
Not exactly the most comfortable experience, but if comfort is the goal, most astronauts wouldn’t be doing what they’re doing anyway. Still, most people probably don’t realize what kind of discomfort goes into the daily life of an astronaut, and just how cramped the ISS really is.
Getting to the ISS is intense enough: it takes months of hard training and then a brutal trip blasting through the atmosphere while plastered to your seat hoping the rocket holds together. And once they make it to the ISS, they still need to get some rest.
Scott Kelly recently made the news by breaking the record for most days in space by a U.S. astronaut at 383. He’s in the midst of the first year-long stay aboard the ISS, and this mission provides an opportunity to see just what kind of a grueling environment astronauts like Kelly must endure.
Sleeping on the ISS is not for those with claustrophobia, as Kelly and others must sleep in what is little more than a glorified broom closet, according to a Business Insider report. NASA requires that they get 8.5 hours of sleep for each 24 hours spent on deck.
It also messes with a human being’s sleep patterns, as the ISS is not in any particular time zone. It’s moving at 17,150 miles per hour, circling the planet every hour and a half, which means his body gets the confusing message of 16 sunsets every single day.
This can result in a constant feeling of jet lag for astronauts. Our bodies rely heavily on the constant cycle of light each day to decide when to shut our body down, which is why jet lag can so severely impact our sleep. Jet lag for astronauts is far worse.
And their sleeping quarters are built for comfort, but only so much is possible. They use custom sleeping sacks that are bolts to the wall or the ceiling to keep them from floating around and bumping into stuff. Velcro straps further secure the individual in the bed.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield even posted a video not long ago of how he tucks in on the ISS. It’s a pretty complicated process, as it turns out.