Thanks to gravity, an Earthly shower is a pretty basic thing that concludes with water, soap, and shampoo flowing down the drain and out of mind. But in space, there is no drain and there is only microgravity, so water, soap, and shampoo alternately stick to your skin and/or float around and look for sensitive electronic equipment to get into and ruin (more than just an inconvenience in space).

Figuring out how to keep clean in space took many trials and errors. According to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the astronauts on the Gemini and Apollo missions in the 1960s and ’70s took simple sponge baths; they couldn’t use much water because they didn’t have the water conservation and recycling methods that exist today, so they didn’t exactly smell their freshest upon returning to Earth. On the Skylab space station, engineers came up with a cylindrical shower stall that was attached to the floor and had to be pulled up to the ceiling to keep the water and soap in a manageable, closed space so they wouldn’t float away and into life-sustaining equipment. Once the astronauts had finished washing with a push-button showerhead, they had to vacuum up all the soap and water floating around before they could lower the shower tube. The process took about two hours.

Cleaning up on the International Space Station

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