Do Astronauts Do Laundry in Space?

It’s hard to maintain the kind of normalcy found in terrestrial life when you’re in outer space. The food is different; the environment is hostile; even relieving yourself becomes a logistical nightmare. This also applies to something most people take for granted—doing laundry. So, how do astronauts get their clothes clean during missions?

Call it a dirty secret: They don’t. Instead, worn clothes get burned.

When astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), shuttle missions, or theoretical expeditions to the moon or Mars get their clothes dirty, they can do one of two things: keep wearing them until they get too offensive to tolerate or throw them away. That’s because the logistics of cleaning clothes in a washing machine have proven too tricky and invasive given the limited living quarters in space. Virtually all water, including sweat and urine, is recycled. But supplying water to launder filthy clothes presents a design challenge—one the agency has yet to resolve.

Instead, NASA typically equips astronauts with a vacuum-sealed wardrobe that can be worn for a few days and then discarded twice weekly. The dirty clothing is then stored in a cargo container and left to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. For workers on the ISS, this can mean using and then destroying up to 160 pounds of clothing per year.

If you can’t imagine clothes getting ripe fast enough to justify that, consider that astronauts typically adhere to a regular fitness schedule of up to two hours a day. The sweat-laden clothing can quickly become a nuisance, hence the jettisoning.

“You work out regularly in space like you do on Earth,” astronaut Leland Melvin told MIT Technology Review in 2021, “but up there you have what I like to call this ‘running shorts gantlet’ of used gym shirts and shorts and sports bras just floating around, and you’re trying to get yourself as small as possible to get through...without having something wipe you in the face or your mouth or your eyes.”

This is neither economical nor especially practical—all that clothing takes up a lot of precious space—which is why NASA has long pursued alternatives. In 2013, the agency experimented with fabrics treated with antimicrobials, long a holy grail of combating space funk. (In 2009, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata wore the same pair of bacteria-resistant underwear for a month and didn’t seem to mind.)

In 2021, NASA partnered with Procter and Gamble to see how the company’s modified Tide laundry detergent (initially dubbed “NASA Tide”) would hold up in space. Procter and Gamble also launched development on a space-friendly washer and dryer that would use only minimal amounts of water. In the meantime, NASA is soliciting ideas from students [PDF] on systems that can clean clothes efficiently.

The work appears to be ongoing. In 2023, Procter and Gamble disclosed their product—now called “Tide Infinity”—was tolerating space well, as were special detergent wipes and stain pens. Their washer is said to use just 3 gallons of water for 10 pounds of clothes, roughly half that of a conventional load. The bad news? Astronauts will still have to sip the reclaimed water.

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