Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: gortklattu

“Showers are a bit of a challenge. I would say they are more like a sponge bath than a shower. We have rinse-less soap, rinse-less shampoo, toothpaste and shaving cream…all the necessities. You carefully add water to your body (surface tension keeps it right there!), then rub it around gently with the soap, rinse it off with a towel, and voila! You’re clean (sort of) again. You don’t want to be too vigorous, as the water and soap fly away. But even that’s allowed, as we will recycle it and use it later to re-hydrate our food!”

http://iss07.yesican-science.ca/Blogs/?view=486

“Taking a shower in weightlessness

None of us would want to renounce the comfort of a daily shower or a hot bath. But taking a shower in space seems hard do imagine. The fact is: astronauts can take showers in space. The fact is also: most of them don’t. The reason is very simple: showers don’t work well in space.

As anything else in orbit, the water streaming from the showerhead is weightless and floats around freely instead of pouring down on the astronaut’s body. The water has to be sprayed into the shower cabin, and the user has to wear a special breathing device to prevent inhalation of water and choking.

The mist of droplets floating around does not naturally cling to the body: the microgravity and surface tension make it necessary to smear the water over the body. As soon as the droplets make contact with the skin, they form a film that tends to cling rather tenaciously and which has to be wiped or even scraped off like suntan lotion. In the Mir space station, the shower was so unpopular with the cosmonauts and astronauts that they threw the shower cabin into space without further ado!

So how do you keep up your personal hygiene in space? The answer is simple: sponge baths. Astronauts and cosmonauts wash with wet towels and sponges. This sounds a lot more uncomfortable than it really is. They actually prefer this method to the tedious shower procedure. Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who, during a 437-day stay in space, used wet towels for personal hygiene, reported that his skin was even better after the flight than before. “

http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEMHOB9ATME_business_0.html


32 posted on 05/27/2012 12:28:43 PM PDT by BwanaNdege (Man has often lost his way, but modern man has lost his address - Gilbert K. Chesterton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies ]


To: BwanaNdege

Salve

Yes, no gravity, now try to drink Coca-Cola there, that should be funny.

Thank you for great information.

Merci.


39 posted on 05/27/2012 1:18:39 PM PDT by MCSP2008 (Romanian native > ESL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson