NASA Streams Video From Space StationNASA Streams Video From Space Station

NASA has begun a live video stream of astronauts working inside the International Space Station.

The feed, powered by a high-speed communications antenna and NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, includes audio of communications between Mission Control and astronauts. On Monday, viewers were able to see crew members performing maintenance procedures on its life-support systems and using exercise equipment to perform physical-fitness activities.

Users can access the video and audio from over the Web when the complex is in contact with the ground and during regular crew working hours, said Kelly Humphries, a spokesman for the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The video, available online on NASA's Web site, shows astronauts working in two modules, Destiny and Harmony. Last week NASA also gave astronauts on the station the ability to surf the Internet.

Destiny is the first U.S. lab module, while Harmony is a connection module that connects Destiny to two other labs, one run by the European Space Agency, called Columbus, and the other run by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, called Kibo.

NASA chose those labs because the activities astronauts performed in them are not private, as they are in some of the other modules where medical procedures and the like take place.

There are currently five astronauts at the space station, which has had 22 crews since its construction began in 1998. The station is a collaboration between the U.S., Europe, Japan, Canada and Russia. Construction on it is expected to be completed this year.

NASA began streaming video online of the space station's view of Earth and its exterior in March 2009.

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