Wheelock says he enjoyed using an amateur radio on the station as well, called a Ham radio, to communicate with people on Earth. Astronauts can broadcast on an FM channel using a handset on the station, which can then be picked up by listeners on the ground–a popular pastime for crew on the ISS–and Wheelock vividly remembers his first time using it.
“It was like alphabet soup coming up at me,” he says. “That started a trend for me where I made thousands of contacts across the world. That really became part of my connection back to the planet.”
Astronauts can also phone and email home, and even use the internet—most have active Twitter accounts and tweet from space. This high level of communication allows them to feel grounded with Earth, something that might be difficult on future missions to Mars when timing delays will make talking to Earth difficult.
“I can’t imagine doing a long-duration mission without that connection to the planet,” says Wheelock.
“It’s a huge psychological hurdle that we’re going to have to figure out.”
Until then, however, modern astronauts will continue going about their day, just like you or me. Where once military men spent days locked in small capsules, today diverse and multi-national crews of men and women live and work in space, in a way that seems almost brazenly normal against a literal out-of-this-world experience.
“There’s a good equilibrium,” says Hitt. “The astronauts are pretty happy with life on the space station. We’ve just come such a long way.”
