You are going to space, what do you bring?

[Grant Lamontagne]

Interesting hypothetical for you all- I've been thinking about it myself all morning and I have yet to come up with a definitive answer for myself.

You have been chosen to be part of the "Average Joe" space mission.  You will be launched into space, spend two weeks at the ISS before being safely returned to Earth.

You are given a box, approximately the size of a small shoe box (say 30 cm x 15 cm x 15 cm or 1 foot by six inches by six inches) and told you can take whatever personal items fit inside, provided the total box weight is under 5 kilos or 10 pounds.

Any medications you take are not included in this box, and there are a couple of rules for the safety of the mission:

1- nothing alive- they don't want a repeat of the Great ISS Hamster Hunt of 2014.

2- nothing combustible, pressurized or explosive- as you will experience many times the force of gravity on launch followed immediately by weightlessness, no one wants to repeat the Aqua Net incidents of the late 80's.  Also, no fires are allowed on board the ISS, so no smoking, no space bushcrafting and starting camp fires etc.

Your clothing is provided (you get a cool jumpsuit like everyone else) and all food is provided, so no worries about any of that.

What do you bring?

Def

[dks]

No artistic magazines, I would assume

[Grant Lamontagne]

No artistic magazines, I would assume

They have wifi on the ISS.   

Def

[dks]

Great, so we can still participate on MTO !!

[Grant Lamontagne]

You are floating on the ISS for two weeks with nothing to do, so I'd hope you would check in here!

Def

[Zephon]

Hmm….it eerily reminds me of our Covid quarantine at home where I brought in my iphone, ipad, chargers and a pouch of MTs and flashlight….

Maybe it also depends who I’ll be with up there (mile high club at zero G?).

If it’s a solo mission, might as well bring a recording device (iPhone? Digital Camera? Those things which Vloggers walk with?) and a tripod that compresses into a selfie-stick.

Maybe a P4 or that Gerber Dual Force or something big which can be handled with figers only or with space suit gloves on. A pen that’ll write in zero G and paper/notebook to write on for journaling purposes.

[kkokkolis]

What about vaping? That should be OK.
Apart from that:
1. My wife, to hold the box for me, 2 weeks would be hell without her.
2. Swisschamp XLT.
3. Nitecore SRT9.
4. My komboloi, for all those hours of boredom.
5. 4711 or Old Spice Original eau de cologne, if allowed.
6. Sony W700 wireless earphones.
7. A Parker Jotter and some crosswords.
8. My Zeiss Conquest 8x42

Provided that streaming is allowed, so I don't have to resurrect my Archos and that the ISS has a toolbox, so a Swiss tool or Surge is irrelevant.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Interesting thoughts so far.

I am not sure you'd need a tripod as there isn't gravity on the ISS, and the camera would likely just float where you've left it!

Tools probably wouldn't be necessary as mentioned, but I'd still bring a SAK of some sort as I believe it is traditional.  I certainly wouldn't expect to have to repair anything- if I do, we are all in big trouble!

Very likely I'd take my Swiss Clipper as I doubt they would have a nail file I would like as much. 

Also, I'd probably bring my tablet and phone for the usual reasons, but the only other thing I can think of would be maybe some goodies (candies, chocolates etc), a watch and then offer my remaining space to other people in case they are a bit over.

Assuming I wasn't likely to damage anything with it,  I'd also consider a magnet on a string.  I don't know how many open spaces there are on the ISS, but I feel like I'd probably end up stranged somewhere in zero G with nothing to push off of.  I feel like Spiderman-ing my way to a hand hold would be a bit more dignified than trying to "swim" through the air.   

Def

[kkokkolis]

You might try this.

[MadPlumbarian]

Ohh, this is a good one, I’d so need my iPad but it wouldn’t fit into the box so I’d be screwed on that, unless it fit on an angle, I’d have to find some other device keep in touch with the Mrs and everyone on here! I’d so be taking a sak, but which one either the custom or FarmerX? I’m sure the jumpsuits should have Velcro on them so I’d throw in a multitool patch so when I got up there I could slap it on an arm, this way I could have a pic taken! What else, maybe my tiki rechargeable flashlight, just to have, a little family pic, even though they would be on the pad or what ever, what happens if the battery died? Definitely a sudoku book although again I got apps on the pad, so if a book I need a pencil, I mean I have a fisher pen also so I might as well throw that in, other then that idk, I guess ear buds to listen to some relaxing music while I just float around,, I think that’s it,
I asked the Mrs and she very quickly said, “my kindle and a pic of my family, what the hell else am I going to do in space”?
JR

[ThisAlarm7]

GLOCK 43, Victorinox Swiss Champion, Kobo e-reader, my laptop running a minty new Fedora 36 upgrade.

[rishardh]

A box full of yarn and knitting needles for me. Maybe a LM Micra to keep my nails in tip top shape

I asked my wife too and she said a pic of George Clooney and a box full of Kit Kats.

[Farmer X]

Three rolls (five cans per) of nicotine pouches, an SAK with a metal saw, a Leatherman with a bit kit, my electric razor, and a few traditional knives.

[Alan K.]

I was going to say a monkey until you specified I can't bring anything alive.   
I mean, come on, didn't anyone here see Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964)?  The astronaut gets stranded and was about out of supplies when his monkey led him to water and a plant that grew in the water that was edible and tasted like sausages. A monkey like that could be indispensable in the event of a ditching.  Also I'd want a multitool, a good solid knife, a compass, a PLB, some fishing line with lures, a water filtering bottle, a few lifeboat nutrition bars, and some other comfort items.  I'm sure my needs would be provided for on the space station but it's the trip there and back that worries me.

[Sea Monster]

If I've learned anything from isolated sojourns in austere conditions...

some kind of E-reader device thingy.
cream latte coffee sachets/powder
toothpaste.

[Fireman]

Earplugs, my lawyer's contact info, and a shiv. 

[Farmer X]

If I've learned anything from isolated sojourns in austere conditions...

Military service?

cream latte coffee sachets/powder

It
And here I assumed my coffee would be provided...