Astronaut Logbook: A week in the life of an astronaut with Samantha Cristoforetti

Your Mission: Follow Samantha's routine at the ISS for one week and compare her daily tasks to yours. Observe your everyday routine and keep a record of it.

Day 5: Teamwork - How Samantha works in a team…


Working together is very important for astronauts on board the ISS.
Samantha onboard the ISS with her fellow astronauts
Check out Samantha’s diary on why teamwork is important on the ISS:

I love working on the International Space Station alongside the other astronauts, because my crewmates are fantastic people! They are very competent, always helpful and they have a great sense of humour.

Everything we do up here on the International Space Station is teamwork. A fellow crewmate might help me on a task if it is taking longer than planned, or they might notice a mistake I am making, or they might just cheer me up if I am sad about something.

Up here in space, we live and work together for 24 hours a day, so it’s important to always look out for opportunities to help your crewmates, and always try to be aware of how your crewmates are doing.

It’s also important to ask for feedback from your teammates, so they can tell you the things that they appreciate about you, and a few things that you can improve.

– Samantha Cristoforetti

Exercise:

  1. Name two tasks you think Samantha would need help with on the ISS:
    1. _______________________________________________________________
    2. _______________________________________________________________
  2. Do you think astronauts face difficulties when working as a team on the ISS? Why? ________________________________________________________
  3. What advice would you give to an astronaut on how to work well in a team?____________________________________________________

Did you know?

To communicate with each other, all astronauts on the ISS need to learn English and Russian.
Samantha also knows Italian, German, French, and Chinese!



Day 5: Teamwork - How I worked in a team today…


Being able to work well in a team is a very useful skill, especially at school! Think of all the times you have worked with someone else. Maybe you partnered up on work at school, played a group game with your friends, or helped with cooking dinner?

Exercise:

  1. What was the last activity you did as part of a team? _______________________________________________________________
  2. Can you think of an activity that you need to complete as a team?________________________________________________________
  3. Name one characteristic you think your teammates appreciate about you.____________________________________________________
  4. Do you think that quality would be important in space? Why? ____________________________________________________
  5. What teamworking skill do you think you could improve on?____________________________________________________
  6. Imagine you are being interviewed for a job to become the next ESA astronaut. Circle which key skills you have and give an example where you demonstrated that skill:
    I communicate well      I listen well     I work hard     I am fair      I am a leader      I manage my time well I am good at problem solving _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Useful Video: