Don't Wash Your Dirty Laundry In Public...
Some time ago I said that how often I wash clothes and bedding. I'm always clean but I try to build up a decent wash load to save on the cost of energy especially as gas and electric is so expensive these days. So though I change regularly I can wait a while.
I appreciate that if you have a family, perhaps work in a manual profession or you need to be ultra clean as in a hospital or a care home etc...and because there are more members in a household you need to do this more frequently.
Every week on BBC Radio 5 during the early hours there is a weekly feature where listeners can ask questions of a kind of guest based in Australia, who has a wide knowledge of topics of a scientific nature. He is well known appearing on various tv and radio shows. He also has a variety of published books. Many of his radio shows are online or can be downloaded as podcasts. The breadth of his knowledge is impressive.
Dr Karl Kruselnicki
Radio 5 Dr Karl/Naked Scientists Podcasts
Dr Karl On TripleJ
But a question can still surprise me as a listener and to some extent even Dr Karl even though similar questions can be asked over weeks and months.
So this morning someone asked what do the Astronauts on the International Space Station who are there for months and years do regarding the washing of their clothes etc...
It was something I have never thought of I have to admit. After all there is a limit on the space available. So where could you store clothes? How do you clean clothes?
I forget the answer Dr Karl came up with but I searched the net and found an answer on NASA's official website site. As this was written sometime ago the information may have changed slightly...
I quote.."Packing enough underwear for three members of an ISS Expedition crew to have a clean pair for every day of a 6-month stay would mean launching at least 540 pairs of underwear into orbit. Picture how big your dresser would have to be to hold all that. There's just no room for it on the Station. Plus, when it costs between $5,000 and $10,000 per pound to launch it into space, that becomes some very expensive underwear."
"ISS Expedition Six Science Officer Don Pettit wrote that he changes his underwear once every 3 or 4 days. That's not quite as bad as it sounds, since clothes don't get dirty as quickly on the Space Station as they do on Earth. Astronauts on the Station are living in a controlled environment, so the temperature stays at a constant, comfortable level. And when everything around you is virtually weightless, you don't have to exert yourself physically the same way you do in the gravity on Earth's surface."
"To make sure that the ISS crew has enough food, water, and other necessities for their stay in space, the Russian Space Agency launches unmanned Progress ships to carry supplies to the Station. The Progress is a nonreusable spacecraft, good for a one-way trip to the Space Station. Once it is there and the Station crew has unloaded the supplies, the Progress is then loaded up with trash, including dirty laundry.
Since only a limited number of Progress crafts are sent to ISS each year, the dirty clothes can sit around on the Station for a while before they can be disposed of. The Progress is then undocked from the Station and "de-orbited," placed on a course that causes it to burn up in Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean."
More information is on the website. It makes you think.
I appreciate that if you have a family, perhaps work in a manual profession or you need to be ultra clean as in a hospital or a care home etc...and because there are more members in a household you need to do this more frequently.
Every week on BBC Radio 5 during the early hours there is a weekly feature where listeners can ask questions of a kind of guest based in Australia, who has a wide knowledge of topics of a scientific nature. He is well known appearing on various tv and radio shows. He also has a variety of published books. Many of his radio shows are online or can be downloaded as podcasts. The breadth of his knowledge is impressive.
Dr Karl Kruselnicki
Radio 5 Dr Karl/Naked Scientists Podcasts
Dr Karl On TripleJ
But a question can still surprise me as a listener and to some extent even Dr Karl even though similar questions can be asked over weeks and months.
So this morning someone asked what do the Astronauts on the International Space Station who are there for months and years do regarding the washing of their clothes etc...
It was something I have never thought of I have to admit. After all there is a limit on the space available. So where could you store clothes? How do you clean clothes?
I forget the answer Dr Karl came up with but I searched the net and found an answer on NASA's official website site. As this was written sometime ago the information may have changed slightly...
I quote.."Packing enough underwear for three members of an ISS Expedition crew to have a clean pair for every day of a 6-month stay would mean launching at least 540 pairs of underwear into orbit. Picture how big your dresser would have to be to hold all that. There's just no room for it on the Station. Plus, when it costs between $5,000 and $10,000 per pound to launch it into space, that becomes some very expensive underwear."
"ISS Expedition Six Science Officer Don Pettit wrote that he changes his underwear once every 3 or 4 days. That's not quite as bad as it sounds, since clothes don't get dirty as quickly on the Space Station as they do on Earth. Astronauts on the Station are living in a controlled environment, so the temperature stays at a constant, comfortable level. And when everything around you is virtually weightless, you don't have to exert yourself physically the same way you do in the gravity on Earth's surface."
"To make sure that the ISS crew has enough food, water, and other necessities for their stay in space, the Russian Space Agency launches unmanned Progress ships to carry supplies to the Station. The Progress is a nonreusable spacecraft, good for a one-way trip to the Space Station. Once it is there and the Station crew has unloaded the supplies, the Progress is then loaded up with trash, including dirty laundry.
Since only a limited number of Progress crafts are sent to ISS each year, the dirty clothes can sit around on the Station for a while before they can be disposed of. The Progress is then undocked from the Station and "de-orbited," placed on a course that causes it to burn up in Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean."
More information is on the website. It makes you think.
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 4:49 am
5 Comments:
Eeeeeeww, so there's the ashes of hundred of pairs of Astronaughts' underpants orbiting the earth
Also when it comes to changing your underwear, remember you're not living on a space station LOL
Very true Anon ;o)
I've just done a big wash(jumpers, bedsheets, thermal, socks, shirts and underwear)That will keep me going for a while.
Did you do them all in the washing machine on the same wash ? !
Hey Anthony,
Just popping by to say hello and and give you a big wave. Happy New Year to you.
Been through a bit of a rough patch myself, not helped by my incessant (sp) habit of worrying.
Will email soon.
Love
C x x
Anon,
There is a program on the washer that can be used for most things and is a high enough temperature and goes on for quite a long time(you can extra wash and spins too)and yes, sometimes washes do get sorted into different selections.
I have been known to ignore washing instructions and tumble dry even when it says "Don't!
Carol,
I had not forgotten you.
If I'd had an address you'd have had a Christmas card from me.:o)
You deserved a Christmas/New Year e-mail from me at least so apologies for not doing that at least.
I want to be positive but see more of the same on a personal and national level. :o(
Will be in touch.
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