The space shuttle Endeavor and its seven astronauts have returned safely to Earth. But after traveling 6.5 million miles in 16 days, and after doing critical repair work on the international space station, and after a picture-perfect landing at Cape Canaveral… the big topic, of course, is the high-tech Japanese underwear of astronaut Koichi Wakata.
You see, Wakata has been wearing an experimental new type of boxer briefs called J-Wear for the past month, without changing them even once. And all in the name of science!
Because it’s impossible to wash clothes in space, astronauts have to toss out their dirty clothes after a while. (They usually get mixed in, and burned up, with the garbage.) But the J-Wear undies are anti-static, flame-retardant, and maybe most importantly, odor-resistant. If they work as advertised — and if the technology works for things like shirts and socks as well — then that could make a big difference to space crews that travel long distances or for long periods of time.
And don’t count out the possibility that YOU might also be wearing month-long undies someday. NASA holds over 6,000 patents and is responsible for inventing a lot of the things we use in our everyday lives: scratch-resistant lenses, shoe insoles, water filters, cordless power tools, and invisible braces, just to name a few. Your skivvies could be next. Video here. And here.