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Dan: Welcome to "Space to Ground," your weekly look at what's happening on board the International
Space Station. I'm Dan Huot.
The crew is hard at work with a lot of maintenance this week but they did get some down time
for Labor Day.
Making the most of his day off, Reid Wiseman took to twitter to share views of a few cities
you might recognize. Equipped with one of the station's 800 millimeter lenses, he was
able to capture crystal clear views of Boston, Phoenix, Denver and New Orleans. To follow
Reid and maybe catch a glimpse of your home town on planet Earth, check out @astro_reid.
A new experiment called Energy kicked off this week onboard the station and it's hoping
to help fine tune astronaut workout and nutrition plans.
It can be difficult for astronauts to maintain a good energy balance while in microgravity
for long periods of time and if things get out of whack, it can affect every aspect of
their health. Knowing just how much fuel these space men and women need to keep going will
help ensure they stay healthy while also letting us know how much food we need to send along,
something that will be even more important as we look to one day travel to mars.
This week's Twitter question comes from Lukas who asks: "How can astronauts be quickly and
safely evacuated from the ISS in case of an emergency? Can they simply jump?"
Well because of how high and how fast the station is traveling, jumping wouldn't be
a very good idea. We do have a very capable escape system in place though, just in case.
The Soyuz spacecraft that carries crew members into orbit also serves as their escape pod.
If there was a major emergency with the crew and they needed to get home in a hurry, the
Soyuz is capable of landing in about an hour but that could put them almost anywhere on
Earth. If the crew just needs to evacuate the station, the vehicle can stay in orbit
for hours or days so they can pinpoint their landing at one of the approved sites around
the world.
Make sure to keep sending your questions and comments using the hashtag #spacetoground.
We'll see you next week.