Can Astronauts Do Laundry In Space?

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to stay and work on the International Space Station (ISS) for an extended period of time? You might be surprised about some details of life on the ISS, such as how hard sleeping can be and how much more complicated using the bathroom is than you think. Additionally, it might be shocking to learn that astronauts are banned from doing their laundry in space.

Washing clothes is a normal, everyday chore on Earth, but on the ISS, it's simply not possible — there aren't even laundry machines on board. One reason is because the amount of water necessary to wash the astronauts' clothes can't be supplied to or produced on the station. Even the water that they drink and use to wipe down their bodies, brush their teeth, and rehydrate their food is partly recycled from their own urine and partly derived from used-up breathing air.

Instead of cleaning their everyday clothes, the astronauts pack enough clean ones to last at least until a supply ship is scheduled to bring fresh clothes and other supplies — about two small suitcases full. Then, they wear certain pieces, such as pants and shirts, multiple times because having a set of clean ones for every day would weigh quite a lot and take up too much space. When the clothes are visibly dirty or smell strongly, the astronauts put them in bags, and when a new batch of supplies arrives, those bags are placed in the emptied supply ship, which burns up upon reentry to Earth.

Since washing laundry is one of the things astronauts are banned from doing simply because it's impossible, it's important for the astronauts to choose wardrobe pieces that reduce the smell of body odor as much as possible. After all, it's only natural for the odor to build up from wearing the same clothes over and over. Plus, it's not the only hygiene activity that's banned on the ISS — so is taking a shower.

With that in mind, most of the everyday clothes that astronauts don are athleisure wear. These types of garments are meant for sweaty situations, so they're made to be breathable, lightweight, and moisture-wicking. On top of that, these clothes are easy to take care of in the zero gravity on the station. 

Alongside everyday wear, the astronauts have standard Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs). These are their spacesuits, which are made with over 12 layers of material and include a complex system that regulates oxygen, pressure, temperature, water, and more during spacewalks. Because of how complex and expensive these systems are, the EMUs aren't discarded like the everyday dirty laundry. They are shipped back to Earth, cleaned and serviced, and reused in future missions.

Space exploration and innovation for humanity's benefit is part of what NASA does as an organization, and ensuring that the astronauts in space are well taken care of and can do their jobs effectively is included in that mission. With expeditions to the ISS expected to get longer in the future, the organization has been working on inventive ways to improve the dirty laundry aspect of hygiene and keep the crews healthy.

From January to June 2013, for instance, Jacobs Engineering Group and the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center worked on a project that involved cleaning clothes in microwaves. However, the project ended near the beginning of the development phase. The Johnson Space Center also worked on a waterless clothes-cleaning machine in 2013 that deodorizes and removes debris from dirty clothing. This project focused on modifying a system that was originally developed for zero-gravity environments, but nothing came from it either.

Progress was finally made after NASA partnered with Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 2021 to find some space laundry solutions. A couple of them became experiments done on the International Space Station later that year, including an innovative degradable detergent meant for space — Tide Infinity. The following year, the astronauts were using Tide To-Go Pens and Tide To-Go Wipes to remove stains from their clothing. Mark Sivik, the senior director of research at P&G, told Cincinnati Public Radio in 2023 that the system allows the ISS crew to clean 10 pounds of laundry with just 3 gallons of water — less than half of what Earth-bound machines require. Best of all, the general public is reaping the benefits of the research in P&G products like Febreze Unstopables Touch Fabric Spray.