TORONTO – Those pretty bits of dust you see captured in the sunlight could be the burnt remains of Chris Hadfield’s underwear.
Hadfield, who visited the Conan O’Brien show on Monday night, explained the process for dealing with astronauts’ dirty laundry.
Unlike us down here on Earth, astronauts wear their clothes for several days.
Once they feel that their clothes have outlived their wear (or maybe due to another astronaut complaining about the smell), they change into new clothes.
Because water is precious on the space station – and yes, some of it is recycled urine – the idea of a laundry machine isn’t realistic, though NASA has looked into it. As well, it would be too costly to send dirty laundry back with the astronauts when they return.
Instead, the astronauts put it on board an unmanned ship that, once full, undocks from the International Space Station and burns up in Earth’s atmosphere.
“You guys on the space station are throwing your dirty underwear out the window and it’s raining down on us?” O’Brien asked, laughing.
Hadfield is touring as part of his book tour, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth.
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