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.
“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.”
“Another smoke detector alarm today. I was exercising but made sure I checked out the situation. It is good training to react as if it is a real emergency.”
The Soyuz spins on its axis while chasing the space station, which one crewmate linked to prior 'spinning chair trainings.' It was still hard to resist looking out the window.