📖 Chapter 9 of 14 · Mysterious Space- Advance 1 · Class 8
Chapter 8: Living and Working in Space
The simple idea: the body was built for the Earth
Our bodies grew up under the Earth's gravity, so living in space takes special care. With everything floating, muscles and bones are barely used and slowly weaken. There is no air outside, and the temperature swings from burning to freezing. Astronauts must carry their whole world with them: air to breathe, water, food, warmth and protection.
The technical layer: how astronauts stay alive and well
A spacesuit is a personal spacecraft: it holds air, keeps a steady temperature, and shields against radiation and tiny fast-moving specks of dust. Inside the station, machines recycle air and even water — nothing can be wasted. Astronauts exercise about two hours every day to keep muscles and bones strong. India's Gaganyaan mission is preparing to send Indian astronauts, called Gaganauts, into orbit, and India plans its own space station in the years to come.
Story Time — A Personal Spacecraft
Gurpreet · Patiala, Punjab
Gurpreet, who dreamed of following Rakesh Sharma into space, was surprised by something his teacher said: “A spacesuit is not really clothing. It is a tiny spacecraft, shaped like a person.” “How can a suit be a spacecraft?” he asked.
“Think of everything it must do,” the teacher said. “Outside the station there is no air — so the suit carries air to breathe. There is no warmth in shadow and burning heat in sunlight — so the suit holds a steady temperature. There is dangerous radiation, and specks of dust moving faster than bullets — so the suit shields the astronaut from both.”
Gurpreet counted the dangers on his fingers, amazed. “So when an astronaut steps outside for a spacewalk, the suit keeps them alive entirely on its own?” “Entirely,” the teacher said. “It is their whole world, worn on the body. That is why putting one on takes hours, and why every seam is checked and checked again.”
“And inside the station?” Gurpreet asked. “There, machines make the air fit to breathe and recycle the water — even the moisture from the astronauts' breath becomes drinking water again. In space, nothing can be wasted.”
Gurpreet thought of Rakesh Sharma floating above India long ago, and of the Gaganyaan mission preparing to send Indians to orbit once more. “Then I will need to know how all of it works,” he said. “Every seam, every machine.” His teacher nodded. “That is exactly the spirit of an astronaut.”
Story Time — Two Hours a Day
Ananya · Hyderabad
Ananya learned that astronauts must exercise about two hours every single day, and it puzzled her. “If everything floats and nothing is heavy,” she asked, “surely life in space is easy on the body? Why so much exercise?”
“It is the floating itself that is the danger,” her teacher explained. “On the Earth, just standing and walking makes your muscles and bones work against gravity all day. In space, they barely work at all — so they begin to weaken and waste away, quite quickly.”
“So the exercise replaces the work gravity normally makes us do?” Ananya asked. “Exactly. Astronauts strap themselves to special treadmills and pull against elastic machines, forcing their muscles to work as if against gravity. Without it, they would return to the Earth too weak to even stand.”
Ananya, who kept a whole notebook of astronaut facts, found this the most surprising of all. “So the hardest part of living in space is not the danger outside,” she said slowly, “but keeping an Earth-body healthy where there is no gravity to push against.”
“You have understood something many people miss,” her teacher said. “Going to space is not only about rockets and courage. It is about biology — about keeping a human body, built for the Earth, alive and well far from home. India's future Gaganauts are training for exactly this.” Ananya added a fresh page to her notebook and titled it: “The Earth-body in space.”
Solved Examples
Think first, then read the answer.
1. Why is living in space hard on the body?
Show answer
Answer: Our bodies grew up under gravity; with everything floating, muscles and bones are barely used and slowly weaken.
2. Why is a spacesuit called a personal spacecraft?
Show answer
Answer: It carries air, holds a steady temperature, and shields against radiation and fast dust — keeping an astronaut alive entirely on its own.
3. How do stations manage air and water?
Show answer
Answer: Machines recycle them; even moisture from the astronauts' breath becomes drinking water again.
4. Why must astronauts exercise about two hours a day?
Show answer
Answer: To make their muscles and bones work as if against gravity, so they do not weaken in weightlessness.
5. What is India's human spaceflight mission called?
Show answer
Answer: Gaganyaan, which will send Indian astronauts (Gaganauts) into orbit.
Check Your Understanding
A. Fill in the blanks
- In space, muscles and bones slowly _______.
- A spacesuit is like a personal _______.
- India's astronauts will be called _______.
B. Write True or False
- A spacesuit carries its own air. ( ___ )
- Life in space is completely easy on the body. ( ___ )
- Stations recycle air and water. ( ___ )
C. Short answer
- List three dangers a spacesuit protects against.
- Explain why weightlessness weakens the body.
D. Think like an astronaut
- Plan one day in space: how would eating, sleeping and exercise differ?
- Why must nothing be wasted on a space station?
- What part of astronaut training would you find hardest?
Check your understanding
Tap an answer to see if it is correct. This is just for fun — nothing is saved.
1. Why does the body weaken in space?
- Too much food
- Muscles and bones barely work without gravity
- Too much sleep
Show answer
B. Muscles and bones barely work without gravity
2. A spacesuit is best described as...
- Warm clothing
- A personal spacecraft
- A costume
Show answer
B. A personal spacecraft
3. India's human spaceflight mission is...
- Gaganyaan
- Aryabhata
- NavIC
Show answer
A. Gaganyaan