The only place outside Earth that has humans staying for an elongated duration of time is the International Space Station. Astronauts aboard the ISS stay for months with the record for stay in space being close to a year at 340 days, set by NASA astronaut Scott Kelly in 2016.
When staying for lengthy durations, astronauts also need to perform regular grooming like the rest of us. This includes hair cuts or shaves too. With hair flying around in microgravity, the task would appear to be tricky. But like all other aspects of human lives that astronauts perform in space, there are tools specialized for the purpose.
The technology that enables haircuts is similar to how toilets are used aboard the ISS. The equipment has specific modifications to ensure the task is performed in the cleanest manner.
The equipment can be seen in a recent video shared on Twitter where NASA astronaut Raja Chari is seen giving a fellow astronaut Matthias Maurer a new haircut. The tool that astronauts used, a trimmer with a modified attachment to connect to a vacuum cleaner, is explained by the astronaut in the video. But apart from the tool, the floating environment in the ISS also makes the job tricky. Check out the tweet below out below:
The specialized equipment connected to cleaning equipment ensures that the hair particles do not float away in the ISS, get stuck in vents or enter eyes of astronauts. A similar technique is used to clip nails. The video was shared by German astronaut Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency, who wrote alongside in his tweet, “Step into the space salon where barber @astro_raja is a man of many talents. Because none of us want hair in our eyes, or – even worse – the @Space_Station systems, our hair clippers come with a vacuum attached. Five stars for this space stylist’s service.
Both Chari and Maurer had arrived at the ISS as part of the Crew-3 mission of Elon Musk’s SpaceX on a six month stay.
