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Everyday tasks like brushing your teeth or drinking coffee become engineering problems in space. Without gravity, astronauts have to rely on suction, straps, and some pretty unconventional solutions just to get through a normal day.
In this video, Cara discusses how life actually works aboard any spacecraft, covering everything from space toilets and sponge baths to sleep setups and zero-gravity food. It's a look at how humans adapt when the rules of Earth no longer apply and why even the smallest routines have to be reinvented.
Article link: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/65016/11-basic-things-are-difficult-do-space-and-how-astronauts-do-them#inline-text-18
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Life in orbit looks effortless in photos, but almost nothing about daily life works the way
0:04
it does on Earth. Without gravity, the simplest routines, like getting dressed, taking a shower
0:10
going to the bathroom, and even drinking your morning coffee, have to be redesigned from scratch
0:15
Hi, I'm Cara, and welcome to Mental Floss Video. Over the decades, NASA and its international
0:20
partners have developed an entire playbook on how to live in microgravity, one small problem at a time
0:27
Here's how astronauts handle daily tasks we barely even think about here on the ground
0:33
Let's get the big one out of the way. How do astronauts go to the bathroom in space
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When you think about the fact that there's microgravity, the imagination can run a little wild
0:47
In the early days of space travel, astronauts relied on tape-on fecal bags, which they then
0:51
had to seal and knead with an antibacterial solution. It was not a foolproof system, and multiple NASA missions had reports of escaped, free-floating feces
1:02
Obviously, this was not ideal, and there were several trial and error solutions over the
1:06
following years. Never fear though, researchers have it pretty much figured out now
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The modern space toilet has a very small opening. Suffice it to say, it requires some aim
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NASA built a toilet training program for astronauts headed to space, a lot like toddlers
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The training involves a commode with a camera mounted inside so that users can see where
1:26
they were and adjust. It's definitely not glamorous, but it is necessary
1:30
The airflow system only works if the astronaut is properly aligned with their target
1:35
Once they're trained, the space toilet uses suction rather than gravity to pull waste away
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The waste is then discarded, so it burns up in the atmosphere. As for liquids, there is a vacuum tube with different sized funnels
1:47
Toothbrushing in space is almost normal, but there's no sink to spit your toothpaste
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into. First, astronauts squeeze out a tiny bit of water from a drink bag. In microgravity, water
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forms tiny floating blobs. So they mop up the blob with their toothbrush and suck off the extra
2:01
water so the bristles are only damp. They don't want to create dirty laundry. Who does? So instead
2:06
of spitting the toothpaste into a towel, a lot of astronauts just use edible toothpaste. They brush
2:11
their teeth while making sure that nothing escapes and floats off into the cabin. Then they swallow
2:16
the toothpaste They clean the brush by taking a sip of water spitting it onto the toothbrush and swallowing that too Speaking of laundry you might be wondering how astronauts do that in space
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Long story short, they don't. Laundry does not exist in orbit. Water is precious, and washing
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machines are too bulky for the International Space Station. Not to mention the whole water
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and microgravity issue. Astronauts have two choices. Keep wearing clothes until they're
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unbearable, or throw them away. NASA packs missions with a vacuum-sealed wardrobe with
2:45
each item meant to last a few days. And twice a week, those dirty clothes are put into cargo
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containers and left to burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Each astronaut on the ISS might
2:54
use 160 pounds of clothing per year. Bear in mind, astronauts do have a regular fitness regimen
3:01
so those clothes can get ripe fast. This isn't especially practical long term
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so NASA has explored alternatives. They tested antimicrobial fabrics, including a month-long
3:11
underwear trial, and partner with Procter & Gamble on a space-ready detergent called Tide Infinity
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as well as launch development on a space-friendly washer that would use only three gallons of water
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per 10 pounds of clothing. Unfortunately, astronauts will still have to sip the reclaimed
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water. And until those systems are ready, astronauts will keep wearing and incinerating
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their laundry. Sleeping in microgravity means you can't just lie down because there is no down
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Astronauts have to strap themselves in so they don't run into equipment or each other. They
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secure their sleeping bags to the wall, the floor, the ceiling, or even a seat. On the shuttle
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crews used sleep sacks or buckled themselves into the commander or pilot's seat. On the ISS
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most astronauts sleep in soundproof, ventilated, cabin-for-one setups that keep them from
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rebreathing their own carbon dioxide. With no gravity, they can sleep vertically or horizontally
4:02
but they still need to tether their arms and legs so they don't float in front of their faces
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The environment doesn't make it easy. The station hums with fans and life support machinery
4:10
and the windows have to be covered to block out light and heat. Many astronauts use sleep masks
4:16
and earplugs to cope. Add in motion sickness, odd air currents, and a sunrise every 90 minutes
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and insomnia becomes a real occupational hazard. NASA budgets eight hours of sleep for every 16-hour
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workday and even redesigned ISS lighting to support circadian rhythms. Even so, astronauts
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average 30 to 60 minutes less sleep than they get on Earth Shuttle crews woke up to music while ISS astronauts rely on standard alarms And in case you wondering yes you can snore in space Showers don function in microgravity because water won fall from a showerhead
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Instead, it floats in little blobs that stick together. Early NASA crews sponge bathed to
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conserve water, using soap and towels, much like on Earth, but a little more labor-intensive
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Skylab, the first U.S. space station, introduced the closest thing to a shower astronauts have
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ever had. It had a floor-to-ceiling cylindrical tarp to contain the water, a pressurized bottle
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to spray it, and a vacuum to get rid of it. Instead of gravity, it used propelling force
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Some astronauts liked this setup, but most found it impractical and tedious because a single shower
5:19
could last over two hours. Skylab's successor, the International Space Station, ultimately abandoned
5:25
the Skylab shower design. They returned to sponge baths using rinse-free soap and shampoo. Instead
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of relying on stored water tanks, the ISS uses a closed-loop filtration system, which captures
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moisture from an astronaut's breath, sweat, and, yes, even urine. About 80% of the station's 530
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gallon water supply is recycled into drinkable water. And it's a good thing they have a way to
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bathe, because you can sweat in space. And the sweat doesn't just drip away the way it does on
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Earth. It forms sticky pools on the skin, and occasionally they'll detach and float around
5:58
the cabin. Even with modern hygiene routines, odors still accumulate inside the station
6:03
because the environment is sealed and air is continuously recirculated. Astronauts today clean themselves basically the same way astronauts did in the 1960s
6:12
and the smell was so memorable that astronauts often returned with a scent
6:16
that was a slap in the face to anyone greeting them. Astronauts on the ISS still start their mornings with a cup of coffee
6:22
but the process is quite different. Instead of pouring water into a coffee maker
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they used the station's water dispenser, which heats water drawn from the closed-loop filtration
6:30
system. To make a cup, astronauts would attach a pouch of freeze-dried coffee to the dispenser
6:36
fill it with the hot water, and drink the mixture through a straw to keep the liquid contained
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In 2008, astronaut Don Pettit experimented with a different approach. Using a piece of plastic from
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his flight data file, he fashioned a prototype weightlessness cup, which relied on surface
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tension and capillary flow to guide liquid to a drinker's lips without spilling. Engineers later
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refined the design into the Zero Gravity Cup the first patented invention in space which allows astronauts to drink coffee more like they would on Earth Early astronauts ate pureed foods from metal tubes because they were easier to control
7:08
in microgravity. And they didn't produce crumbs, which could float around the cabin and interfere
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with equipment. Once missions stretched beyond a few hours, space programs like Apollo and Gemini
7:18
introduced freeze-dried foods, which could be rehydrated with water and eaten. By the time
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astronauts were traveling to the moon, they had access to dozens of food items. And later flights
7:28
added hot water and packaging that allowed some foods to be eaten with utensils rather than
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squeezed from a container. Larger spacecraft changed what was possible. Skylab included a
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designated dining area, a table with restraints, and even a freezer. Crews could store and eat
7:44
frozen foods as well as canned foods. The shuttle era expanded the menu again. It even had a galley
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which made heating and rehydrating meals much easier. Even so, the lack of refrigeration still
7:55
meant that most foods had to be thermostabilized or dehydrated. Today's ISS menu is built around shelf-stable foods prepared at NASA's Space Food Systems
8:04
Laboratory and partner agencies. Crews choose from around 200 US foods, supplemented by foods from other countries
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The most sought-after foods by ISS crew members are fresh fruits and vegetables
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A limited supply of produce arrives with each visiting vehicle and is immediately eaten
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chocolate chip cookies baked by Luca Parmitano and Christina Cook, who just flew to the dark side
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of the moon. Something that is not really eaten in space is bread. In the 1980s, payload specialist
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Rodolfo Nerivella requested that tortillas be included in his food supply. There were no crumbs
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and his fellow crew members thought it was genius. Now tortillas are standard fare aboard the ISS
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For all the engineering behind it, daily life in space is still a work in progress. Astronauts adapt
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experiment, and occasionally improvise their way through tasks that we don't even think about here
8:57
on Earth. Each mission adds new solutions, from better hygiene systems to improved food options
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and future crews will inherit an even more refined toolkit. But the core reality remains the same
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Living off the Earth requires rethinking everything from the ground up. And the fact
9:13
that astronauts can eat, sleep, and even enjoy a cup of coffee while orbiting at thousands of
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miles per hour is its own kind of miracle. Thanks for watching Mental Floss and we'll see you next time
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