“Biggest impact of X operations was the unstow and restow... Don’t think they understood how much overhead was involved. Gave them lots of pictures and movies, before, during, and after to help them get an idea.”

“The X experiment runs automatically, and provides video to the ground of a process through which physicists study fluid mechanics. It runs at night to minimize effects of crew movements. Problem is, the experiment starts at 9pm and runs for 9 hours. If we must move around during that time, we float slowly, using minimal fingertip pressure for control.”

"I had a good day yesterday and was actually able to do real science for the first time. It was fun and interesting. Much of the science we do is just turning equipment on or off or cleaning out a glove box or whatever, but this was actual real science for a couple of hours. I loved it.”

“Stowage is one area that deserves some attention, because ground doesn’t really understand the problems of gathering equipment from multiple locations and tying it down for use at a work site. Walls are already cluttered, and it’s hard to organize a location nearby.”

“I look up the location of the next bag of breads available, hunt it down in another module, bring it back to our "table," bar code it, bar code the pantry location where it's going, separate out the breads which for some reason are packaged with "rehydratable meats," get those corralled into separate bags and stowed away in the pantry, and then eat.”

“Most items are buried deep in bags, sometimes three or four deep. Inside a locker, there is a CTB, inside of which is a kit, which has a Ziploc with a tool inside. This can really add to the cost of doing business.”

“Dealing with the frustration of difficult working positions, equipment floating away, stability, computer failures, bad procedures, disappointing outcomes wears on one after a while.”

“Now [with] the equipment being in different orientations, it is easy to lose your place in a procedure.”

“One of us usually throws a few packets of meat and soup into the food warmer before dinner. Or one of us floats by the water dispenser (which is on the ceiling in the Lab), and fills packets of dehydrated vegetables or drinks, tossing them to each one of us.”

"Smells are the most interesting. Node 01 is getting a bit ripe and X has no notice of it. I’m guessing it is from wet trash so I’ll see if it goes away when we change the bag later.”

“Two weeks here and just now beginning to sense that I smell bad. Or maybe it’s me and my crewmates. But on weekends we can throw away some old clothes, scrub ourselves down well after the workouts, and put on brand new clothes.”

“It amazes me that 150ml of hot water on a hygiene towel can bring me such joy and satisfaction up here. We get one every other day. Hygiene towel days, as we call them, are very nice days!”

“I have heard that [sleep shifts] can be painful and the scheduling is not always the best. It is now 2130 and just now getting to my quarters.”

An evening ritual for one crew was to gather around the Russian segment's dining table for dinner at 6:30 to share a meal and stories. When the food gets repetitive, the crew combines different parts of different meals together to make new recipes.

Each day, Moscow and Houston send a schedule with specific tasks assigned to each crewmate. Two calls are made with Ground Control, one in the morning to clarify and one in the evening for next steps. Even weekends have tasks to be done, systems to be repaired, and educational programs to be completed.

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.

Given the lack of running water, the crew has had to 'improvise' elements of hygiene - using wet wipes and towels, needing to swallow toothpaste after brushing, wearing a water bag over your head to wash hair.