ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet is sharing scenes from life on board the International Space Station during his second mission “Alpha”. Astronauts on the Space Station work out up to two hours every day to keep fit and counteract the effects of living in weightlessness.

The T2 treadmill is adapted from a regular treadmill but designed so as not to shake the rest of the Space Station. This vibration damping system does not use power and is very reliable. The astronauts use elastic straps over the shoulders and round the waist to keep them in contact with the running belt and generate the foot force necessary to give the astronaut’s bones and muscles a workout in weightlessness.

Thomas shared this video on social media with the caption:

“More working out in space... On our treadmill. We use bungee cords to keep from flying away, and by changing the number of clips we can set how much force to push us down on. Since the tension is taken by our harness, it really is like running with a backpack of your own weight… you feel it on the hips and on the shoulders! That’s why we usually run at a fraction of our earthly weight… but our coaches know how to keep us honest: they speed up our protocols by 30%... I’m kind of missing a natural environment to run in, though.”

Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency CNES.

Latest updates on the Alpha mission can be found via @esaspaceflight on Twitter, with more details on ESA’s exploration blog via thomaspesquet.esa.int.

Background information on the Alpha mission is available at www.esa.int/MissionAlpha with a brochure at www.esa.int/AlphaBrochure.    

Access the broadcast quality version of the video.