In a video interview with TopCoder, NASA astronaut Donald Petit, who lived on the space station for 13 months, explains some of the obstacles posed by life in space for such a tool.

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Two of the other five U.S. astronauts who have lived aboard the Russian space station told CNN they are planning to leave the space agency within six months.

CNN: Continued U.S. participation questioned

But today, the demilitarized town where the first man in space Yuri Gagarin once lived, is open for business, ferrying cosmonauts and billionaires to space while also offering wild spins in a giant centrifuge to visitors who only dream of the great beyond.

BBC: The dated future of Russia��s Star City