Vacuuming is a bit of a chore at the best of times, which is why many people have a robot to do it for them, or even pay someone else to take care of it. But on the International Space Station (ISS), there are no robots or cleaners that can step in, which means the astronauts have to do it themselves. But heck, it looks like a whole lot of fun.
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim has just shared a video showing how they use a vacuum cleaner in space.
Thanks to microgravity, there’s no lifting or pulling (or possibly pushing) a machine. Instead, as Kim demonstrates in his video, you just clip the cleaner to your pants before floating off around the station to perform the task in hand. But that same microgravity means that the dust doesn’t settle anywhere, so what then? Kim explains the process.
The American astronaut, who arrived at the station in April on his first orbital mission, says they clean the station using a “pretty standard vacuum cleaner that you’d find on Earth,” but notes that the particles just float around in the weightless conditions.
“Luckily, we have an environmental control system that’s got fans and diffusers and HEPA filters and so most of the dust tends to collect in these areas,” Kim explains. It means that instead of looking like a goof and vacuuming the air, all you do is run the vacuum over the filters and other devices to suck up the trapped dust.
Responding to a comment to his post asking why he’s using a mains-connected vacuum and not a battery-powered one, Kim says that while cordless vacuums are available on the ISS, the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries don’t last long enough to clean the entire facility.
“The International Space Station is not just a place where we conduct research on behalf of institutions across the world, but it’s also our home for long periods of time,” Kim says. “And like any home, you have to keep it clean and tidy, so we distribute these chores across crew members and one of these chores is vacuuming.”
Interested in watching other videos showing daily life aboard the ISS, including how to use the bathroom? Then check out these videos made by the astronauts themselves over the years.
