Saturday, October 15, 2005

How do astronauts in spacecraft keep themselves clean?

Two Chinese astronauts, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, continued their space travel Thursday aboard the nation's second manned spacecraft Shenzhou-6. How do they keep themselves clean during the planned 119-hour space flight?

According to Dr. Li Yongzhi, who is in charge of medical monitoring and guarantee for astronauts, the two men cannot brush their teeth as they did on the Earth. Scientists have prepared for them a sort of oral cleaner similar to chewing gum. It can be used after meal.
Alternatives include a kind of tooth cover made of germfree gauze and a sort of edible toothpaste, which can also kill odor in oral cavity, Li said.

"These approaches can make our astronauts more comfortable than their Russian peers, who use gauze soaked in physiological saline to clean their teeth," Li said.

Since no shower is feasible in space, the two astronauts in Shenzhou-6 are provided with a sort of special tissue to clean their bodies and special cream to moisturize their skin, according to Li, adding that in the five-day flight, they will change their underwear once.

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