Moving day nears. The plumbers, electricians and installers should be finished this month, outfitting our new home in the sky with a toilet, fresh batteries, air purifiers and exercise gear.

Our orbital outpost has no street address, but it does have a name: Zvezda, a Russian word, reflecting its Russian heritage, that means star. Zvezda anchored itself to the two-room foundation of the International Space Station in July. It arrived virtually empty to save weight during launch.

Preparing the module to support its first resident crew is the goal of NASA's next space shuttle mission, but it will take more than oxygen generators to breathe life into the budding space complex.

Though the space station orbits just 300 miles or so above Earth, it may as well be on another world. There is no place to go visit. No breeze to freshen the air. No hikes, no lakes and no pets.

"Human beings are biologically designed to spend life outdoors," says Nancilee Wydra, an author and expert in feng shui, the Chinese art of placement. "We feel more alive when all our senses are active."

Stimulating the senses would take the edge off of living in an enclosed, artificial environment, says Wydra. For example, in the areas of the space station without windows, a slide projector could fill a wall with a variety of images from Earth - landscapes, animals, water scenes and people.

"Whether in the background, or used to change a room's ambience, slides would nurture aesthetic sensibilities and provide visual diversity in a small space," says Wydra.

Other harmonic-inducing home improvements:

• Scent diffusers. With a sunrise every 90 minutes, body clocks are easily upset in orbit. But a carefully regulated spritz or two at key intervals of the day might help space travelers maintain their mental clarity. Wydra recommends the scent of bacon and eggs or coffee in the morning; the smell of sage at high noon; lemon for a late-afternoon perk-up; geranium after dinner and a final diffusion of lavender before bed.

  "Naturally, I would test my fellow space travelers to ascertain if they have any negative reaction to any of these scents before putting it into the space capsule," she adds.

• Surround sound. "Many years ago it was shown that baby monkeys raised with artificial mothers thrived best when an alarm clock was put inside their torso," says Wydra. "I would provide a heartbeat inside the capsule in the main gathering area. I would also provide a Winchester wall clock that rings on the quarter hour and hook a few bells around the walls so that when flying by a touch would engage their sound.

  "In nature, after all, we enjoy random, intermittent sounds like birds, animals scurrying and so forth," she said.

• Textures to touch. To stimulate the sense of touch, the space station should have a variety of textures. Knobs, for example, could be smooth or grainy, cool or warm. Sleeping garments could have reversible liners of satin or velvet. Clothing could be wired with personal thermostats so that astronauts will never be too hot or too cold. Space décor. To differentiate between up and down, north and south in the disorientating weightlessness of space, Wydra suggests painting each wall a different color. Her picks: light rose, pale sunflower yellow, baby blue, faint melon, light turquoise and pale cocoa.

Finally, if there is a way to funnel the crew's drinking water through clear tubes, Wydra says moving water is comforting to look at