A visible-light image of the Andromeda Galaxy, taken by Torben Hansen.
CC Torben Hansen

Large (Wet) Towel

Large white vacuum packed wet towel, an example of those used on the Russian space station Mir between 1986-2001. Serial number 09B9802148.

Water behaves very differently in space than it does on Earth. Without gravity to make it flow naturally, using water to shower or wash your hands in space presents a challenge.

Mir did include a shower but cosmonauts found it difficult to use and time consuming to set up. Eventually it was removed and the space was repurposed. Instead, the cosmonauts preferred to simply wipe themselves clean with cloths like this one.

Between 1986 and 2001 Mir operated in low Earth orbit and hosted over 100 individuals. It served as a microgravity research laboratory where cosmonauts could live and work on long duration missions. At the time, it was the largest artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, until it was succeeded by the International Space Station.

More information

Object number

1999-7

Location

Into Space Gallery

Has this object been into space?

No

Dimension - Dimension, Value, Measurement unit

Depth: 2.0cm
Height: 12.0cm
Width: 10.0cm

Material

Cotton
Plastic
Water

Object Production Date

1980s

Object Production Organisation

NPP Zvezda

Object Production Place

Russia

On Display Status

On display

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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.