As NASA’s Artemis II crew heads around the Moon, bedtime looks a little different than it does on Earth. There are no traditional beds inside Orion. Instead, NASA says the crew will sleep in sleeping bags attached to the spacecraft’s walls, with a full eight hours of sleep built into the mission schedule.
That may sound austere, but one astronaut has offered a better mental picture. In a Canadian Space Agency video, Artemis II crew member Jeremy Hansen explains that they will “string a sleeping bag up, more like you would string up a hammock.” In microgravity, that means crew members can essentially suspend themselves around the cabin rather than lie down on anything that looks like a bed.
NASA has also shared a few details that make the setup feel slightly more human. The sleeping bags can be hung in different parts of the cabin to make the most of Orion’s limited space, and the spacecraft includes window shades to block sunlight during sleep periods. The bags even have arm holes, so crew members can use their tablets before turning in for the night.
So while Artemis II is not bringing luxury bedding to deep space, it is bringing a reminder that even on a history-making mission, people still need a place to sleep. It just happens to be somewhere between a wall-mounted sleeping bag and a hammock floating on the way to the Moon.
Sources: NASA.gov; asc-csa.gc.ca (Canadian Space Agency)
