Waking up, working, and going to sleep in Zero G

When we settle into our beds at night, we usually experience a pleasant sense of unburdening. After a long day of walking, sitting, and standing, letting gravity do the work and sinking into a soft mattress can be a relief.

But a little more than 200 miles (322 kilometers) above the Earth, astronauts live and work in zero gravity aboard the International Space Station (ISS),

and going to sleep in zero gravity presents a much different situation.

The ISS is big — it takes up about the same footprint as an American football field (including the end zones)

and since launch now has more livable space than what you’d find in the average five-bedroom home

Including two bathrooms, a gym (while in space, astronauts, on average, exercise for two hours every day in an effort to combat a side effect of life in space:

bone and muscle loss), and a 360-degree bay window