How astronauts wash themselves in space YouTube. Hygiene rules in orbit: how astronauts wash themselves in space

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, a jacket and pants for about a month. If they changed clothes more often, they would take up too much space. But this does not mean that astronauts walk around dirty: the air on the ISS is cleaner and hygiene is stricter than on Earth, so clothes become dirty more slowly.

In addition, scientists are developing space underwear with an antimicrobial coating to keep clothes fresh longer. This 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 zero gravity, nothing makes tears flow down your cheeks. Instead, they accumulate in a ball around the eyeball and sting the eyes. The more tears, the larger the water ball, which seems to stick to the eye and does not flow anywhere. To get rid of the unpleasant sensation, you need to wipe the tear with a towel or handkerchief.

In space, tears irritate the eyes, although according to nature's intention they should moisturize and protect. This happens because under the influence of low gravity the chemical composition of fluids in the body changes. In addition, in zero gravity a person experiences a feeling of dry eyes, and tears provoke a very contrasting and therefore unpleasant sensation.

3. Astronauts don't just eat from tubes

Contrary to popular belief, you can eat fruits, berries and cakes in their natural form in orbit. The official menu for 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 add salt or pepper to a dish in zero gravity, the spices will fly apart and get into your eyes. Therefore, liquid saline solution and seasonings are used - mustard and ketchup are especially popular.

Ketchup and Makheev sauces are supplied to the ISS for Russian cosmonauts. According to the director of Essen Production AG JSC Leonid Baryshev, who owns the Makheev trademark, exactly the same ketchup is supplied to orbit as to stores. The company did not create a special line of products for food on board: regular sauces from the supermarket successfully passed all quality tests. Therefore, if you eat ketchup or Makheev mustard, you may feel a little like an astronaut.

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4. You can sleep vertically and even upside down in space

To avoid flying around the spacecraft while sleeping, astronauts rest in special sleeping modules. These are vertical and horizontal sleeping bags attached to the wall. The sleeping modules are arranged this way because in space it’s the same as sleeping: there is no floor and ceiling, no bottom and no top, so you can rest upside down. Often, astronauts assume the fetal position, which is most natural in low gravity conditions.

In addition, astronauts have to sleep under a fan. It ensures air circulation with the correct oxygen content and prevents a person from suffocating from carbon dioxide exhaled during sleep. The fan is loud: 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 around in zero gravity, you don't need to walk. Therefore, the rough skin on the heels softens and peels off. Because of this, astronauts have to be very careful when removing their socks so that dead skin cells don't fly everywhere, risking getting in 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 directly on the skin and rub them over the body so that they do not separate and fly away. Very little water is wasted at the station, because in orbit even the shampoo is leave-in - after soaping, the hair is simply wiped with a towel.

7. Astronauts cut their hair with scissors and a vacuum cleaner

The crew stays on the station for several months, so sometimes they have to get their hair cut right in space. To do this, astronauts use scissors connected to a vacuum tube, which sucks up the hairs, preventing them from flying around the spacecraft cabin. Electric razors that suck up shaved hairs work on the same principle.

8. Astronauts train to go to the toilet on Earth

There is no escape from visiting the toilet every day, 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 so as not to miss in weightlessness and avoid annoying mistakes.

9. Bloating in space is a serious problem.

In space, foods that cause bloating are prohibited. Not only because a lover of extravagant food will annoy his 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 exercise

In zero gravity, it is much easier for the heart to pump blood throughout the body. This is dangerous because over time it can weaken greatly from lack of load. To stay in shape, astronauts devote 2.5 hours to sports every day. For this purpose, the spaceship 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.

Life in space seems very strange. But the human body quickly adapts to life in zero gravity. Returning to Earth, many astronauts drop objects and break dishes, accustomed to the fact that things float in the air.

How did astronauts wash themselves before?

The first space flight, performed 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. Currently, the average mission 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.

Cosmic Shower. Cosmonauts V.V. Lebedev and A.N. Berezovaya

These devices, according to the astronauts, were “a very funny attraction,” and washing in them was a whole ritual that lasted several hours (especially if you were not used to it) and ended with the laughter of the entire crew. The shower stall was made in the form of a cylinder from thick translucent plastic. Before getting into this plastic cylinder, the astronaut put on swimming goggles and took into his mouth a special tube into which air was supplied from the outside. Then the shower was hermetically sealed and the “fun” began. Unlike a regular shower, there were no streams of water pouring down from above, but rather a very fine mist of water was sprayed. And under the astronaut’s feet a very powerful vacuum cleaner was working, which pulled down water dust. This is done so that the air flow shapes the direction of the water. In conditions of weightlessness, water by itself does not flow down from a person, but simply sticks around him and does not move anywhere. In order for the air flow to wash away water from a person, the vacuum cleaner under the astronaut’s feet must have very high power. It was not possible to install a powerful vacuum cleaner on the space station, so in order to get rid of water on their bodies, the astronauts had to shake themselves off, just like dogs do after a bath. Then the soap solution ended up on the inner walls of the shower, and from there it flowed down to the vacuum cleaner. The procedure is repeated several times, each time with increasingly pure water. The astronaut is covered in water, he rubs it over his body, shakes himself off again, again the vacuum cleaner removes the liquid from the walls, and all over again. If you're tired of shaking yourself off, it means you're already clean.

How do astronauts wash themselves now?

On the currently functioning international space station, there is no shower at all. This, of course, does not mean that astronauts do not wash for six months. Instead of washing with water, astronauts use wet wipes specially made for them, which they use to wipe their skin daily. It is very important that the liquid with which the napkins are soaked does not contain alcohol (according to fire safety regulations) and is odorless, because even the most pleasant smell can become disgusting in a few weeks. You can’t take regular shampoos to wash your hair on a flight, 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 creates virtually no foam, and after washing your hair you just need to dry it with a towel. So everyone is very happy.

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To understand how astronauts wash themselves in space, you need to remember that there is microgravity at the orbital station. Therefore, water does not flow there, but sticks around a person, and a flying hair can become a threat. Limited water supplies force astronauts to use them sparingly.

Showering 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 out a breathing tube. Water dust was sprayed onto it from above, which was sucked up from below by a special vacuum cleaner.

Currently, astronauts working on the International Space Station do not use showers at all. To wash their bodies or hands, astronauts use special wet wipes and leave-in gel. The astronaut rubs the body with gel or a damp cloth soaked in it, and then wipes himself with a damp towel.

It must be soaked with water every three days. After washing, hang the towel near the ventilation shaft, where it dries faster.

For their hair, workers on the International Space Station use a special shampoo that does not require rinsing with water.

The procedure includes several points:

• Apply shampoo to hair with your hands.
• Massage your scalp vigorously.
• Dry your head with a damp towel.
• If necessary, comb.
• Allow to dry naturally.

It is important to remember that lost hair can pose a danger to plant workers. They can fly into their nose or eyes.

Going to the toilet and other hygiene issues

Everyday procedures on the International Space Station take on a number of nuances related to microgravity conditions. It can be described point by point:

• A man takes a position on the toilet seat.
• Secures himself with straps.
• Connects a special urination device to a long plastic tube that is mounted on the wall.
• For solid waste, the visitor places a specially prepared bag into the toilet. After this, imitation of gravity and fans are activated to purify the air.
• After use, the bag is placed in the waste compartment under the toilet.

Taking into account all these activities, going to the bathroom in orbit takes, on average, ten minutes longer than on the planet.

There is no sewage system in Cosmos, so the urine is mixed with other wastewater produced at the station. They are then purified into water that is once 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. That's why station workers wear it all the way. The dirty clothes are then placed in a trash container, which then burns in the upper atmosphere.

Station workers brush their teeth using regular toothbrushes, tubes of water and toothpaste. A paste has been developed for space flights that is safe to swallow. Therefore, astronauts either swallow water with toothpaste or spit it out into a special napkin. The water from it is squeezed out and made suitable for new use.

In 2010, several NASA videos appeared online, where astronauts demonstrate how they live and work in orbit. Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti's video 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 trim their nails in orbit.

I've always been interested space and everything connected with it. Recently I was walking around the city and accidentally came across a booklet that talked about some museum of cosmonautics. Of course, I became interested in what this place was, and I headed to the address indicated in the booklet. An hour later I was already standing at the entrance to the museum with the tickets I had purchased.

Of course, it all started with the guide's stories about the first cosmonauts, spaceships and so on, but after some time we came to a very interesting question, which, by the way, has interested me for quite some time, the question about hygiene of astronauts during a long stay in orbit.

How the astronauts washed themselves

It turned out that earlier, in old models of Russian spaceships, there was a shower cabin. It was designed very intricately. To make its use possible, the astronauts had to carry out a number of actions, before finally taking a shower. And you the process went as follows:

One can hardly call such a washing process pleasant and convenient, so after a couple of years space shower cabins were dismantled.

How do astronauts wash themselves now?

Of course, even after the abolition of showers in spaceships, the question about hygiene of astronauts remained open, because some of them have to spend 3 or more months in outer space.

Subsequently, Russian scientists were special cleaning wipes were invented, which astronauts can carry out hygiene procedures. The napkins are textile, which impregnated with a special disinfectant composition. It's interesting that Russian cosmonauts use hygiene products, which are developed specifically for space flights, but Americans use napkins in space that can be bought at any pharmacy.

Concerning washing hair in space, then a special one has also been developed for this leave-in shampoo. Can you imagine how convenient it is? Apply shampoo to your hair, comb it and you're done!

How do astronauts wash, go to the toilet and brush their teeth?

Over the four months that an average astronaut's mission lasts, the space station becomes his second home. An astronaut, like an earthly person, needs to take care of himself and perform basic hygiene procedures: brush his teeth twice a day, take a shower and go to the toilet. But doing all this in zero gravity conditions is not as easy as on Earth. Entire groups of scientists from all over the world have worked and are working on this problem.

The first shower cabins were installed at the Salyut-7 and Mir orbital stations. They were made of thick plastic in the shape of a cylinder and were hermetically sealed. Before getting into the shower, the astronaut put on swimming goggles and took into his mouth a special tube into which air was supplied from outside. Very fine water dust was sprayed from above, which was then sucked up by a powerful vacuum cleaner installed right there, since due to the lack of gravity, the water does not flow down, but simply sticks around the person.

Now everything is different: there are no showers at all at the stations, but, as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield explains, there are packages with “leave-in shower gel.” Essentially, this is slightly soapy water with a special disinfectant composition: you just need to apply it to yourself (or to a napkin, which arrive at the station in pressed form), wipe off and then rub with a clean towel. For washing your hair, there are the same leave-in shampoos - curiously, they are not a scientific secret of NASA and are completely freely sold in stores.

Teeth are also cleaned using water from tubes and regular toothpaste, which, due to microgravity, sticks to the brush. After brushing their teeth, astronauts either swallow the toothpaste (sometimes they are given edible toothpaste) or spit it out into a paper napkin. To prevent water from being wasted, towels are placed in the air drying system and the water squeezed out of them is recycled and further used at the station.

If there is no shower on the space station, then there is a toilet, and even quite comfortable: with a curtain door and a small porthole - a small corner of privacy in space. In zero-gravity conditions, a fan suction system is used on the orbital station: human waste products are essentially blown away by a stream of air. Once absorbed, they are broken down into oxygen and water, and these components of human liquid waste are used again. The toilet is equipped with leg clamps and thigh holders, and powerful air pumps are built into it. The astronaut fastens himself with a special spring mount to the toilet seat, then turns on a powerful fan and opens the suction hole, where the air flow carries away all the waste, or uses a hose with a funnel. Solid waste is collected in special containers, which are then transported to Earth. In the video below, ship captain Sunita Williams explains how to use the toilet in space.