Categories: Space Station

Buy Your Own Space Underwear

[/caption]
Remember the “long duration underwear” tested out by Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata on board the ISS last year? Now you can buy your very own. The specially designed undies and other clothing called “J-ware” are on sale now for 10,500 yen or about $115 USD. J-ware is treated with antibacterial and deodorizing materials, so they can be worn for long periods of and are resistant to odors. “(For) two months I was wearing these underwear and there was no smell and nobody complained,” said Wakata. “I think that new J-ware underwear is very good for myself and my colleagues.”

Hurry, sizes and quantities are limited.

Here’s the English translation of the J-ware website,
and the original Japanese version.

In addition to odor control, the clothes are designed to absorb water, insulate the body and dry quickly. They also are flame-resistant and anti-static.

Typically, clothes can only be worn for a few days in space, and especially the clothing worn by astronauts as they exercise. Since there’s no laundromat in space, the clothing is discarded as garbage.

Astronaut Takao Doi, who flew with a shuttle crew in early 2009 to deliver Japan’s Kibo laboratory to the station, exercised as much as his crewmates, but his clothes stayed dry.

Wakata’s clothes include long- and short-sleeved shirts, pants, shorts and underwear. Special socks have a separate pouch for the big toes (see top image) so the astronauts can use their feet like an extra pair of hands, helpful for anchoring themselves on the floor while doing work on the station.

Source: collectSPACE

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/

Recent Posts

Are Fast Radio Bursts Caused by Interstellar Objects Crashing Into Neutron Stars?

Astronomers have only been aware of fast radio bursts for about two decades. These are…

3 hours ago

Here’s How to Weigh Gigantic Filaments of Dark Matter

How do you weigh one of the largest objects in the entire universe? Very carefully,…

5 hours ago

How Could Astronauts Call for Help from the Moon?

Exploring the Moon poses significant risks, with its extreme environment and hazardous terrain presenting numerous…

18 hours ago

There Was a 15 Minute Warning Before Tonga Volcano Exploded

Volcanoes are not restricted to the land, there are many undersea versions. One such undersea…

18 hours ago

Main Sequence and White Dwarf Binaries are Hiding in Plain Sight

Some binary stars are unusual. They contain a main sequence star like our Sun, while…

20 hours ago

What a Misplaced Meteorite Told Us About Mars

11 million years ago, Mars was a frigid, dry, dead world, just like it is…

22 hours ago