Alcohol is not permitted on the space station, but I’ve read in books that small quantities may have been consumed in the past on special occasions. As I mentioned before, smoking is different because that creates fire danger, and nothing scares astronauts and cosmonauts more than fire (OK, maybe depressurization and toxic atmosphere also scares them). So I’ve not heard of anyone smoking in space.

For recreation, long-term crews watch DVDs on the laptops and also listen to music. During my trip we will have a special lunch with French food from Alain Ducasse, and I can also read the books that I am bringing up for the library.

Monday, March 26, 2007