The International Space Station’s astronaut shows how to operate a treadmill from 250 miles above the Earth in new footage.

Matthias Maurer, a German astronaut of the European Space Agency (ESA), can be seen fixed to a harness and bungie to simulate the experience of jogging on Earth. 

T2, the treadmill, is attached to Node 3 also called Tranquility. This module is part of the ISS.

To stay healthy and fit, astronauts who live and work on the ISS spend around 2 hours a days, 6 days a weeks. 

Matthias Maurer, a German astronaut of the European Space Agency (ESA), can be seen fixed to a harness and bungie as he does his daily workout

Matthias Maurer (German astronaut for the European Space Agency) can be seen attached to a harness with a bungie during his daily work out. 

THE NODE 3 MODULE

Node 3 module also called Tranquility was one the last parts to the ISS.

Crew members have additional living space in the pressurized area, as well many other environmental control and life support systems that are already aboard the space station. 

They include water recycling, air revitalization and oxygen generation. It also includes a trash and hygiene area, as well as a treadmill.  

Thales AleniaSpace in Turin, Italy built Tranquility for NASA under contract with the ESA. The node is 21 feet long and 14 feet wide. In May 2009, it weighed more than 27,000 pounds. Kennedy Space Center received the node aboard an Airbus ‘Beluga’ aircraft.  

This prevents muscle and bone damage caused by microgravity. It can also lead to longer-term health problems for spacefarers who return to Earth.  

In space, the effects of a lack of gravity on the human body is a big obstacle facing future space exploration missions, including planned manned missions to Mars in the 2030s, which could take up three years of an astronaut’s life.

The clip shows Maurer floating about before grabbing a handrail and stabilizing himself to get into the right orientation.

It then begins the bizarre sequence where he “runs on a wall”. 

ESA adds that the clip “is just a snapshot” of Matthias’s space-based exercise. A typical T2 session lasts between 30 and 40 minutes.  

On November 11, NASA launched Crew 3, the third fully-fledged ‘operational’ crew NASA and SpaceX have flown to the ISS. 

The crew – made up of Maurer along with NASA astronauts Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron – successfully reached the ISS about a day after the launch. 

Following their six month-long stay aboard the space station for six months, Maurer and other inhabitants of Earth will make their return to Earth this April. 

Maurer, while in orbit will be supporting over 35 European and more international researches.  

Astronauts living and working on the ISS exercise for around two hours a day, six days a week, to stay fit and healthy in orbit

For astronauts in orbit, they exercise approximately 2 hours per day and 6 days a semaine on the ISS.

From left: European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer of Germany, and NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida

From left to right: Matthias Maurer from Germany’s European Space Agency and NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Kayla Baron and Tom Marshburn at Cape Canaveral’s Kennedy Space Center.

Matthias had received a shipment from SpaceX Dragon just before Christmas and was now sorting synthetic muscles cells to incubate. 

Some of the cells in these tissues are electrically stimulated, triggering weightlessness and contractions. Others are subject to artificial gravity by centrifugation. 

ESA states that the results of these experiments will improve our understanding in areas such as human health and materials science. This is beneficial to life on Earth, as well future space exploration.

Crew 3 is the fourth spacecraft that NASA sent to orbit with SpaceX’s SpaceX vehicles in the last 17 months. It was a continuation of a public/private partnership SpaceX formed with Elon Musk in 2002.

The ISS (pictured) floats in low Earth orbit at an altitude of 254 miles. It flies around the world every 90 minutes, travelling at 5 miles per second

Pictured: The ISS, which floats at a low Earth orbit and reaches an altitude 254 miles (pictured). The ISS flies at 5 miles per second around the globe every 90 minutes.

NASA officials are now aiming to put humans on Mars sometime in the 2030s - and as early as 2035

NASA officials plan to place humans on Mars by the 2030s, or as soon as 2035.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule is seen here atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as it prepared for launch with four astronauts on board, on a mission to the ISS in November 2021

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, seen as it prepares to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Four astronauts are onboard. 

They collaborated to usher in an era of NASA that saw the first American astronauts launch from US soil last year in nine years since NASA stopped flying spacecrafts. 

SpaceX will launch in May 2020 Successfully transported NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley on a 19-hour journey to the ISS – marking the first crewed test flight of the firm’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. 

This was also the first US-based crewed rocket to orbit since NASA’s end a decade ago. 

Crew 4 – the fourth crewed operational NASA flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft – is set to launch on April 15, 2022. 

It will carry a four-person crew to the ISS – NASA astronauts Robert Hines, Kjell N. Lindgren and Jessica Watkins, as well as Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

WHY DO SPACE ASTRONAUTS DO WHAT EXERCISES?

Microgravity causes fluids to move around in your body. Plasma and other fluids are lost all over the body. Red blood cells are nourished by plasma. 

There is less plasma, which means that oxygen can be carried to other parts of the body by the blood. 

However, exercise has been proven to increase plasma levels in the body. Aeronauts who are active make more red blood cell.

Another change that microgravity can bring about is orthostatic intolerance. 

Orthostatic intolerance is when you feel lightheaded and stand quickly.

The body attempts to stop it happening. Your body does this by raising your heart rate and blood pressure in order to draw more blood back to the heart. 

You’ll faint if you don’t manage that. A astronaut is more likely to faint because there’s no gravity and less blood volume. 

Exercise can also help to increase blood flow and blood volume. It prevents fainting.

To prevent muscle and bone loss, astronauts in space must be active for two hours each day. 

It would make astronauts less capable of performing tasks when they are in space. They would need to be able to quickly get from a station or spacecraft in an emergency. 

Once they land on Earth, weakened muscles and bones would make walking difficult.

With therapy, muscle can be rebuilt. It is difficult to get lost bone back.

Space has three major functions:

The three types of exercise equipment used by Astronauts are: 

  • The Cycle Ergometer is a bike-like device that measures your pedaling speed. Because it is easy to see heart rate and work done, this device is useful in measuring fitness in space.
  • Treadmill: Running on the treadmill or walking is similar to walking on Earth. Walking is the most effective way to strengthen bones and maintain muscle health. The lack of gravity causes people to float so harnesses are used to keep them on the ground. 
  • Resistance Exercise Device RED: This device looks similar to the weight-lifting machines seen on TV. It is used by astronauts who twist and pull rubber-band-like pulley cords. You can use the RED to do a full body workout. Astronauts can perform squats or leg bending exercises on the RED. Russians and Americans use different workouts at the Space Station. They all share the same goal of keeping astronauts and other cosmonauts fit. 

NASA