Take a Tour of the Phonebooth-sized Crew Quarters on the International Space Station

By Nancy Atkinson - January 10, 2014 10:22 AM UTC | Space Exploration

Phone booths. You know, those things that Superman used to change into his cape and tights. According to news reports, the last phone booths in use in the US will be decommissioned and hauled away sometime this year. If you've ever had the chance to actually use one of these communication relics, you know how cramped they are inside. But they provide a good size comparison to the tiny crew quarters on board the International Space Station.

In this new video, Japanese astronaut and Expedition 38 Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata provides a tour of the crew quarters inside the International Space Station's Harmony node where there are four individual living spaces. They include a sleeping bag, laptop computers and gear for communicating with family members.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com