Japanese Astronaut Conducts Long-Term Wear Experiment

In a news conference from Space Shuttle Endeavour just before landing on Friday, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata said something you might not expect to hear from a space traveler.

For 30 of the 138 days he was on board ISS, he wore the same prototype pants being tested for possible long-term space flight. That's 30 days in a row.

The Times of London reports the pants are special anti-bacterial water-absorbing underwear being tested in an effort to determine how much, or how little astronauts could take with them on a long-term space mission. Mike Suffredini, manager of NASA’s space station program, said “We’re going to go beyond the Moon some day, and little things like this will seem like really, really big things when you’re far away from Mother Earth.”

The special clothing was designed by the Japanese space agency, Jaxa, according to the paper. There was a full kit, including T-shirt, socks, long pants and leggings.  They are made of cotton and polyester with a futuristic-looking silver coating.

For his part, Wakata was fairly nonchalant about the experiment, and didn't make a big deal of it with the others aboard the station. “I wore it for about a month and my station crew members never complained, so I think the experiment went fine,” he said.

FMI: www.nasa.gov