Going to bed

Most shuttle astronauts sleep in 4-story capsule-style beds While in a weightless state, the body cannot tell what is "up" and what is "down". This makes it impossible to lie down. This means that astronauts can sleep in any sort of position, no matter where they are. But if the astronauts were allowed to float freely, they could bang into things and damage the shuttle, so they sleep on four-story bunks in the ship's mid-deck.

As a shuttle crew usually is made up of five to seven members, they take turns sleeping. When there is a shortage of beds the astronauts will use a sleeping bag attached to a shuttle wall, or set up a hammock in the cockpit and sleep there. Yes, this man is actually fast asleep!

Space shuttle beds are equipped with a sleeping bag. The astronaut gets into the bag and straps their body to it in three different places, which allows them to sleep lying down as they would on Earth. For astronauts unable to sleep with the noise of the shuttle's machinery, NASA also provides eye shades and ear plugs. Astronauts are allocated eight hours daily for sleep, but if work takes longer than expected, or the astronaut stares out at space, it often eats into their sleeping time and the average number of sleeping hours is probably closer to six.