Astronauts showed how they take a shower on the ISS. Hygiene rules in orbit: how astronauts wash in space How they shower on the ISS
To understand how astronauts wash in space, you need to remember that microgravity operates at the orbital station. Therefore, water does not flow there, but clings to a person, and flying hair can become a threat. The limited supply of water forces astronauts to use it sparingly.
Shower and hand washing
Soviet space stations were equipped with showers. They were plastic and sealed. To take a shower, the astronaut put on swimming goggles and took a breathing tube. Water dust was sprayed on top of it, which was sucked in by a special vacuum cleaner from below.
Right now, astronauts working on the International Space Station don't use showers at all. Astronauts use special wet wipes and leave-in gel to wash their bodies or hands. The astronaut rubs the body with gel or a damp cloth soaked in it, and then wipes himself off with a damp towel.
It must be soaked in water every three days. After washing, the towel is hung near the ventilation shaft, where it dries faster.
For hair, workers of the International Space Station use a special shampoo that does not require rinsing with water.
The procedure includes several items:
- Apply shampoo to hair with your hands.
- Vigorously massage the scalp.
- Dry your head with a damp towel.
- If necessary, comb.
- Let dry naturally.
It is important to remember that lost hair can pose a danger to station workers. They can fly into their nose or eyes.
Toilet visits and other hygiene issues
Daily routine on the International Space Station takes on a number of nuances related to microgravity conditions. It can be described in points:
- The person takes a position on the toilet seat.
- Fastens with straps.
- Connects a special urination device to a long plastic tube that is attached to the wall.
- For solid waste, the visitor places a specially prepared bag into the toilet bowl. After that, an imitation of the action of gravity and fans are activated to purify the air.
- After use, the bag is placed in the waste compartment under the toilet.
With all these activities, a visit to the restroom in orbit takes, on average, ten minutes more than on the planet.
There is no sewer in Space, so the urine is mixed with other wastewater that is produced at the station. After that, they are purified to water, again suitable for drinking. Solid waste is placed in a tank, which is then sent overboard and burned in the upper atmosphere.
Washing astronauts' clothes would require too much water. Therefore, station workers wear it all the way. After that, dirty clothes are placed in a garbage container, which then burns in the upper atmosphere.
Station workers brush their teeth with ordinary toothbrushes, tubes of water and toothpaste. For space flights, a paste has been developed that is safe to swallow. Therefore, astronauts either swallow water with toothpaste or spit it out into a special napkin. Water is squeezed out of it and made suitable for new use.
In 2010, several NASA videos appeared on the net, where astronauts demonstrate how they live and work in orbit. A video of astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti shows how astronauts wash themselves in space. Another astronaut, Canadian Chris Hadfield, in his videos released in 2013, showed how they wash their hands and cut their nails in orbit.
Information programs often describe scientific experiments carried out on orbital stations. At the same time, a significant part of the audience forgets that astronauts are also people and have the same needs as everyone else. If hygiene problems are easily solved for short-term flights, then staying in orbit for several months requires careful study of this issue.
Today, the answer to the question of how astronauts wash themselves in space is simple and unequivocal: no way. At the same time, they comply with all hygiene standards. The orbital stations "Mir" and "Salyut-7" had shower cabins on board, which allowed the astronauts to wash themselves. However, the procedure itself was somewhat unusual, and the time for preparing the cabin and its subsequent cleaning was unreasonably long.
The cabin was a sealed plastic cylinder, inside which mist was sprayed, which was subsequently removed by a special vacuum cleaner. The person had to wear goggles for swimming, and breathed through a special tube. It is hard to imagine that you can enjoy it, although formally it can be called a shower. It is also important that the washing process took less time than the preparation of the cabin. Given the limited space of the space station and the transition to the use of wet wipes to keep the body clean, in 1990 the shower cabin on the Mir station was dismantled.
Previously, such showers were used
The absence of gravity leaves its mark on all hygiene procedures in space, but it should be noted that this is not a sanatorium, but a place for important research. It is problematic not only to wash and brush your teeth, but also to cut your hair or nails
Employees of the Institute for Biomedical Problems (IMBP) have developed special tools that allow you to carry out procedures similar to taking a shower or bath. At the same time, the approach to solving the problem differs significantly between Russian and American developers. Russian hygiene products are specially designed taking into account space specifics, and the Americans use those that can be purchased from them at any pharmacy.
The use of a leave-in shower gel, which is a disinfectant composition that resembles slightly soapy water, allows you to keep your body clean during a long stay on the orbital station. Leave-in shampoo is intended for washing hair. All compositions do not contain alcohol, as evaporating and entering the regeneration system, it will turn recycled water into vodka.
The procedure for washing your hair in space, described by American astronaut Karen Nyberg, who has long hair, is very simple:
First, a small amount of warm water from a special bag is applied to the hair;
- Then a small amount of dry shampoo is spread over the head with a comb;
- Dry your hair with a towel. This is where the hair wash ends.
Karen Nyberg washing her hair
Russian cosmonauts use a specially designed non-foaming Aelita shampoo to wash their hair, applied to their hair with a napkin, and then simply dry their hair with a towel. The body is cleansed with wipes impregnated with a special gel.
Special shaving gels and edible toothpastes have been developed that are used in zero gravity conditions with a minimum amount of water. Female astronauts are allowed to take a limited amount of cosmetics with them. All this, as well as the obligatory change of clothes every three days, allows the astronauts to maintain body hygiene at the proper level.
The first space flight, made by Yuri Gagarin, lasted a little more than an hour and a half. Therefore, he did not have to take care of the bath in orbit. Now the average business trip to the space station lasts about six months. Therefore, the designers of space stations had to take care of the soul for the astronauts. The first shower cabins were installed at the Salyut-7 and MIR orbital stations.
These devices, according to the cosmonauts, were “a very funny attraction”, and washing in them was a whole ritual lasting several hours (especially if you were not used to it), and ending with the laughter of the entire crew. The shower cabin was made in the form of a cylinder of thick translucent plastic. Before climbing into this plastic cylinder, the astronaut put on goggles for swimming and took a special tube into his mouth, into which air was supplied from outside. Then the shower was hermetically sealed, and the "fun" began. Unlike a conventional shower, it was not jets of water that poured from above, but rather a very fine mist. And under the feet of the astronaut, a very powerful vacuum cleaner was working, which pulled down the water dust. This is done so that the air flow shapes the direction of the water. In conditions of weightlessness, the water itself does not flow down from a person, but simply clings to him and does not move anywhere. In order for the air flow to wash off water from a person, the vacuum cleaner under the astronaut's feet must have a very high power. It was not possible to put a powerful vacuum cleaner on the space station, so in order to get rid of the water on the body, the astronauts had to shake themselves off, just like dogs do after bathing. Then the soap solution ended up on the inner walls of the shower room, and from there it already flowed down to the vacuum cleaner. The procedure is repeated several times, each time with more and more pure water. Water clings to the astronaut, he rubs it over his body, shakes it off again, again the vacuum cleaner removes the liquid from the walls, and all over again. If you are tired of shaking off, then you are already clean.
How do astronauts wash now?
On the currently functioning international space station, there is no soul at all. This, of course, does not mean that astronauts do not wash themselves for six months. Instead of washing with water, astronauts use wet wipes specially made for them, with which they wipe their skin daily. It is very important that the liquid used to soak the wipes is alcohol-free (for fire safety regulations) and odorless, because even the most pleasant smell can become disgusting in a few weeks. To wash your hair on a flight, you can’t take ordinary shampoos, since you won’t be able to wash off the foam in zero gravity. Our cosmonauts wash their hair with a special composition "Aelita". It practically does not create foam, and after washing, you just need to wipe your hair with a towel. So everyone is very happy.
I've always been interested space and everything connected with it. Recently, I was walking around the city and accidentally stumbled upon a booklet that told about some Museum of Cosmonautics. Of course, I became interested in what kind of place this was, and I went to the address indicated in the booklet. An hour later I was already standing at the entrance to the museum with the purchased tickets.
Of course, it all started with the guide's stories about first astronauts, spaceships and so on, but, after a while, we came to a very interesting question, which, by the way, has been of interest to me for quite some time, to the question about the hygiene of astronauts during a long stay in orbit.
How the astronauts washed
It turned out that earlier, in old models of Russian spacecraft, there was a shower. It was very intricately arranged. In order to be able to use it, astronauts had to carry out a number of actions before finally taking a shower. And you the process went like this:
It is hardly possible to call such a washing process pleasant and convenient, so after a couple of years space showers have been dismantled.
How astronauts wash now
Of course, even after the abolition of showers in spaceships, the question about the hygiene of astronauts remained open, because some of them have to spend in outer space for 3 or more months.
Subsequently, Russian scientists were special cleaning wipes invented which astronauts can carry out hygiene procedures. Napkins are textile, which impregnated with a special disinfectant. Interestingly, Russian cosmonauts use hygiene products which are developed specially for space flights, but the Americans use napkins in space, which can be bought at any pharmacy.
Concerning hair washing in space, then a special leave-in shampoo. Can you imagine how convenient? Apply the shampoo to your hair, comb it out and you're done!
They don't wash things on the ISS because there is no water in space. Because of this, astronauts wear the same thing for a long time: socks for a week, jacket and pants for about a month. If they changed their clothes more often, they would take up too much space. But this does not mean that astronauts go around dirty: the air on the ISS is cleaner and hygiene is tougher than on Earth, so clothes get dirty more slowly.
In addition, scientists are developing space underwear with an antimicrobial coating to keep clothes fresher longer. It is not so simple: underwear should not irritate the skin and cause dysbacteriosis, which kills beneficial bacteria on human skin.
2. It's uncomfortable to cry in space.
In weightlessness, nothing makes tears run down your cheeks. Instead, they accumulate in a ball around the eyeball and burn the eyes. The more tears, the larger the water ball, which, as it were, stuck to the eye and does not flow anywhere. To get rid of the discomfort, you need to wipe the tear with a towel or handkerchief.
In space, tears irritate the eyes, although nature intended to moisturize and protect. This happens because under the influence of low gravity, the chemical composition of fluids in the body changes. In addition, in weightlessness, a person has a feeling of dry eyes, and tears provoke a very contrasting, and therefore unpleasant sensation.
3. Astronauts don't just eat out of tubes.
Contrary to popular misconception, it is possible to eat fruit, berries and cakes in natural form in orbit. The official menu of Russian cosmonauts consists of 250 items, and if a cargo ship is sent to the ISS, they can order something fresh.
Ordinary salt and pepper are not available to astronauts: if you salt or pepper a dish in zero gravity, the spices will scatter and get into your eyes. Therefore, liquid saline and seasonings are used - mustard and ketchup are especially popular.
Ketchup and Maheev sauces are supplied to the ISS for Russian cosmonauts. According to the director of Essen Production AG, Leonid Baryshev, who owns the Maheev trademark, exactly the same ketchup is delivered into orbit as in stores. The company did not create a special line of products for food on board: ordinary sauces from the supermarket successfully passed all quality tests. Therefore, if you eat ketchup or mustard "Maheev", you can feel like an astronaut.
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4. You can sleep in space upright and even upside down
In order not to fly around the ship during sleep, astronauts rest in special sleeping modules. These are vertical and horizontal sleeping bags attached to the wall. The sleeping modules are arranged in this way because in space it's the same as sleeping: there is no floor and ceiling, bottom and top, so you can even rest upside down. Often, astronauts assume the fetal position, which is most natural in low gravity.
In addition, astronauts have to sleep under a fan. It circulates air with the correct oxygen content and prevents a person from suffocating from the carbon dioxide exhaled during sleep. The fan works loudly: the noise reaches 65 dB. That's why astronauts use earplugs.
5. The skin on the heels becomes smooth, but this is dangerous.
To move in weightlessness, you do not need to walk. Therefore, the rough skin on the heels softens and exfoliates. Because of this, astronauts have to be very careful when removing their socks so that dead skin cells do not scatter everywhere, risking getting into someone's eye or clogging equipment.
6. Astronauts don't shower.
On the ISS, no one takes a shower in the usual sense of the word. Astronauts wipe their skin with a damp towel to save water and time. If you really want, you can squeeze a drop of water and liquid soap directly onto the skin - the liquid bubbles will stick to it. Then you need to mix them very slowly right on the skin and rub over the body so that they do not separate and fly away. Very little water is spent at the station, because in orbit even shampoo is indelible - after soaping, the hair is simply wiped with a towel.
7. Astronauts cut their hair with scissors and a vacuum cleaner
The crew is at the station for several months, so sometimes you have to cut your hair right in space. To do this, the astronauts use scissors connected to a vacuum tube that sucks up the hairs, preventing them from flying around the cabin of the spacecraft. Electric shavers work on the same principle, sucking up shaved hairs.
8. Astronauts train to go to the toilet on Earth
There is no escape from daily visits to the toilet, even in orbit. To make the process as comfortable as possible, it was equipped with belts. The visitor secures himself in a comfortable position and sits down. But it's not that simple. Due to the fact that water is not used for draining in space, astronauts have to train on Earth in order not to miss in weightlessness and avoid annoying mistakes.
9 Space Bloating Is A Serious Problem
In space, food that causes bloating is banned. Not only because a lover of extravagant food will annoy colleagues with an unpleasant smell, but also because of the danger to life. Methane and hydrogen produced by the human body are explosive gases.
10. In zero gravity, you must definitely play sports.
In weightlessness, it is much easier for the heart to pump blood around the body. This is dangerous, because over time, from a lack of load, it can greatly weaken. To stay in shape, astronauts devote 2.5 hours to sports every day. To do this, the spacecraft has simulators: a treadmill, a bicycle ergonometer and a simulator that simulates gravity. Regular physical activity also helps to avoid atrophy of the leg muscles, because they are hardly used in space.
Space life seems very strange. But the human body quickly adapts to life in weightlessness. Returning to Earth, many astronauts drop objects and break dishes, getting used to the fact that things are floating in the air.
