The National Geographic Channel's TV program Live from Space featured a live broadcast of how astronauts live on the International Space Station (ISS).
The show aired for two hours on March 15 and showcased the life of an astronaut, along with the dangers that come with the job. American astronaut Rick Mastracchio of NASA, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata gave the audience a look at their outpost and discussed everything about their life on space including taking spacewalks and handling space junk.
The show was hosted by Soledad O'Brien and NASA Astronaut Mike Massimino. It followed the space station as it completed an orbit around the Earth at 17, 500 mph. The hosts were reporting live from the Mission Control Center of NASA, which is located at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Highlights of the show include the view of the Hawaiin Islands and Russia through the cupola window. This part was delivered by Wakata as Tyurin was holding the camera. They also discussed how dangerous space junk could be, including the debris that might hit the station and cause problems. A pre-recorded segment talked about dangerous side of spacewalks, and focused on the event when Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano nearly drowned when water from his spacesuit started seeping through his helmet.
"Everything that we can see from here - from the space station - on the ground's surface, it's not a movie or virtual reality," Tyurin told O'Brien during the show, as reported by Space.com. "It's a real reality and since the borders aren't visible maybe it means that we don't have them at all."
Wakata, Tyurin, and Mastracchio have been on the ISS since November. NASA Astronaut Mike Hopkins and cosmonauts Sergey Ryanzaskiy and Oleg Kotov returned to Earth on March 10 from the ISS.
Although life in space is difficult, Mastracchio said that they'd always miss living aboard the ISS.
"I've been up here for four months. I've been away from home for almost six months. I know I'm going to miss the great views out the window and I'm definitely going to miss sleeping in a zero-g environment. It's absolutely fantastic. When this mission is over, I'm definitely going to be happy to go home and see my family."
