Thse insights have been pulled from the individual experiences of astronauts and cosmonauts recorded in published first person accounts — journals, diaries, debriefs, and post-flight reflections.As this database includes the personal, subjective experiences from a diversity of flyers, they may sometimes contradict, but together they provide a more holistic, if messy, picture of life in space. To learn more about how these categories were developed, please see this related publication.
“…availability of the i-phone, videoconferencing, email, the view of the Earth, and the ability to broadcast our thoughts and experiences through social media has largely solved the major behavioral health issues for long-duration spaceflight of 6 months or less.”
“It was cool talking to my family and hearing them sing happy birthday. I received lots of birthday emails. It is too bad there is not enough time to respond to all of them.”
“I could tell there was some stress in the air because there were a couple very short tempered exchanges between us this morning. I have come to recognize these moments as relating to stress and I saw them often in training too… All it takes is a little direct communication and a couple jokes to clear the air and that is exactly how the morning proceeded.”
Given that days start at 4AM GMT, 'lights out' is at 7:30PM GMT. This time is used for crew to chat with each other, call family on Earth, and take personal time for hobbies and reflection.