WEBVTT - How Do Astronauts Shower in Space?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel bam Here. The first thing people

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<v Speaker 1>usually want to know is how astronauts use the toilet

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<v Speaker 1>in space, but really showering is just as hard, if

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<v Speaker 1>not harder. I think about your own shower and the

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<v Speaker 1>two things that make it so nice plenty of hot

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<v Speaker 1>water and gravity. Water is even more of a valuable

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<v Speaker 1>commodity in space as it is on Earth, and without

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<v Speaker 1>Earth's gravity pulling the water down from the showerhead, along

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<v Speaker 1>your soapy self and down the drain, there's just water

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<v Speaker 1>and SuDS going everywhere. The gravity on the International Space

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<v Speaker 1>Station is about of the gravity on Earth's surface, but

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<v Speaker 1>because it's an orbit, the station is in a continual

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<v Speaker 1>state of free fall, meaning that astronauts experience a continual

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<v Speaker 1>state of weightlessness, also called micro gravity. So engineers have

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<v Speaker 1>had to get clever to keep astronauts clean in At

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<v Speaker 1>the earliest days of NASA, astronauts on the Gemini and

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<v Speaker 1>Apollo missions had very few options. They could take a

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<v Speaker 1>sponge bath with a towel, soap and water, but water

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<v Speaker 1>was very limited in those tiny capsules. These guys also

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<v Speaker 1>didn't really change their clothes. When astronauts returned to the

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<v Speaker 1>Earth in the nineteen sixties, they were ripe. When the

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<v Speaker 1>space station sky Lab was an orbit, it had a

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<v Speaker 1>shower of sorts. Astronauts stepped inside a collapse tube and

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<v Speaker 1>strapped their feet in at the bottom, then pulled the

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<v Speaker 1>tube up around them and clipped it in at the top.

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<v Speaker 1>The top and bottom hardly matter when you're in microgravity.

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<v Speaker 1>Did smear liquid soap all over themselves and then rinse

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<v Speaker 1>it off with a mere twelve cups or two point

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<v Speaker 1>eight liters of pressurized water coming through a hose and

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<v Speaker 1>shower head inside the tube. They then had to dry

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<v Speaker 1>off with a towel and suction up every single water

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<v Speaker 1>droplet so that it wouldn't get into the equipment didn't

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<v Speaker 1>short something out. From start to finish, the process took

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<v Speaker 1>two hours, so a lot of astronauts skipped it again.

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<v Speaker 1>They tended to be a bit ripe on their return,

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<v Speaker 1>but they did have more clothing to change into. During

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<v Speaker 1>the Space Shuttle era, astronauts used the sponge bath system

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<v Speaker 1>just like the Gemini and Apollo cruise did, but the

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<v Speaker 1>International Space Station that orbits Earth today has improved the

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<v Speaker 1>shower situation. All water is supplied in small pouches, and

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<v Speaker 1>any that gets on their skin just kind of sticks

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<v Speaker 1>and blobs. So to clean up, astronauts use rinsless soap

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<v Speaker 1>and rinsless shampoo plus a little water from a pouch.

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<v Speaker 1>They can work in the soap and water with a

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<v Speaker 1>towel and also use the towel to help remove the soap, water,

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<v Speaker 1>and any grime that they pull away. Any moisture that's

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<v Speaker 1>left behind is captured by the Environmental Control and Life

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<v Speaker 1>Support System and recycled, and we mean any moisture. The

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<v Speaker 1>i s S system reclaims every drop of water from

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<v Speaker 1>showering to breathing to peeing, then cleans it and reuses it.

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<v Speaker 1>While we're talking about space hygiene, astronauts, Samantha Christopher Retti

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<v Speaker 1>shared some secrets about microgravity toothbrushing with CBS News. You've

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<v Speaker 1>still got your toothbrush and toothpaste, so you can scrub

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<v Speaker 1>your teeth. But then what do you do with a

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<v Speaker 1>mouthful of minty foam and no sync for spitting. A

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<v Speaker 1>lot of astronauts just swallow the toothpaste, but Christopher Retti

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<v Speaker 1>chose to spit it into a towel. She said, It's

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<v Speaker 1>not the most elegant thing, but you do what you

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<v Speaker 1>have to do. Today's episode was written by Christen hall

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<v Speaker 1>Geisler and produced by Tyler Klang. For more on this

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<v Speaker 1>and lots of other fresh topics, visit how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio. For

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