ISS is so full an astronaut is sleeping in a capsule

Space on the International Space Station is tight even on a normal day. Right now it's tighter than usual. NASA astronaut Jessica Meir gave up her own sleeping quarters to a brand-new crewmate this week. She's been bunking in a small SpaceX Dragon capsule docked outside instead, sleeping bag and all. Eleven people are currently living on the station, after four new astronauts arrived on Oct. 1.

The ISS has a handful of built-in sleeping pods, and with 11 people aboard, they've run out. Meir handed hers to Luke Delaney, one of the four astronauts who just arrived as part of Crew-13. Her new spot is inside the Dragon capsule that flew her own crew, Crew-12, up to the station months ago. It's a cramped fix, but a short one.

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When does Meir get her bed back? Her own Crew-12 mission is scheduled to undock and head home as early as Oct. 7. That's just a couple of days from now. Once Crew-12 leaves, the station's population drops back to seven and a sleeping pod opens up again. Until then, the camp-out is a small, human reminder of how little spare room there really is in orbit.