Dirty laundry in space? Nasa tackles challenge of cleaning astronauts’ clothes
- Astronauts wear their underwear and clothes until they cannot take the filth and stink any more, then throw them out
- Health brand Procter & Gamble will send detergent experiments to the International Space Station to find best ways to clean clothes
How do astronauts do laundry in space? The simple answer is, they do not.
They wear their underwear, gym clothes and everything else until they cannot take the filth and stink any more, then throw them out.
Nasa wants to change that – if not at the International Space Station, then the moon and Mars – and stop throwing away tons of dirty clothes every year, stuffing them in the rubbish to burn up in the atmosphere aboard discarded cargo ships.
So Nasa has teamed up with home and health brand Procter & Gamble Co to figure out how best to clean astronauts’ clothes in space so they can be reused for months or even years, just like on Earth.
[The clothes are] deemed toxic. They, like, have a life of their own. They’re so stiff from all that sweat
The Cincinnati company announced on Tuesday that it will send a pair of Tide detergent and stain removal experiments to the space station later this year and next, all part of the galactic battle against soiled and sweaty clothes.
It’s no small problem, especially as the United States and other countries look to establish bases on the moon and Mars.