Rocket Fuel: Astronauts dish on ISS life

This is my first installment of Rocket Fuel, a periodic column on what I'm hearing around town, interesting aerospace news that didn't make it in the newsletter, or topics on my radar planned for future coverage.

The big picture: Rocket scientists are just like the rest of us.

At least that's one of the takeaways I got from hearing astronauts Nichole Ayers and Takuya Onishi speak this week at Marshall Space Flight Center.

• Employees asked good questions, but what struck me was that they wonder the same things us normies do about space: What's the food like? What's it sound like? What's haircare like?

The short answer: Most food is standard fare, Onishi said, but astronauts can personally choose and contribute 15% of the meals — Onishi, for example, said he brought Japanese food — which is shared with the crew.

• Ayers said sound levels vary: it's quiet in sound-proofed crew quarters, but fans and workout equipment can get loud. She even wore hearing protection sometimes on the treadmill.
• She said her hair was mostly up and out of the way, but "shedding is definitely a real thing," and "if you float by a hair, do not let it go," referring to how stray hairs float in space rather than fall to the ground.

In other news: A couple council members, Michelle Watkins and Bill Kling, weighed in last week on Huntsville Hospital's purchase of Crestwood, with Kling saying HH CEO Jeff Samz will make a public presentation at some point.

• Watkins said the sale shouldn't move forward without more public transparency and input, and Kling said, "Crestwood Hospital is still going to remain and be called Crestwood Hospital."

Got tips? Ideas? Want to vent about traffic? Hit reply and let me know!