Peggy Whitson

One of the questions I get most often is how we stay clean without a shower. The short answer is no-rinse shampoo, washcloths, and plenty of wipes. It works surprisingly well for months at a time, though you do start to miss the feeling of water running over your head. On Skylab in the 1970s, crews actually had a shower. It was a collapsible tube you pulled around yourself, with your feet strapped down, that provided about three liters of pressurized water. However, every drop had to be carefully vacuumed up afterward and the whole process took almost 2 hours. Today we use the no-rinse method because it uses far less water and crew time. It works and it's a small price to pay for living in space!
The National Air and Space Museum has one on display in their Skylab exhibit.

On my first long-duration mission in 2002, resistance exercise options were limited; bone and muscle loss occurred faster than we wanted.
By the time I returned for my nearly year-long stay in 2016–2017, we had the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device. It became my favorite piece of hardware on the Space Station. Two hours a day of combined resistance and aerobic work still doesn’t fully stop the changes, but it makes a meaningful difference in how strong and dense you stay; however, that loading alone isn’t enough for multi-year missions. On recent flights we’ve started looking at the cellular side—how stem cells and muscle repair mechanisms behave in microgravity. For future long-term missions, we’ll need smaller, more efficient hardware, better nutrition protocols, and targeted ways to protect the molecular machinery that keeps muscle and bone healthy.

Today marks 26 years of continuous human presence in space — meaning an entire generation has never known a day without people living above Earth. That’s pretty special.

Happy Halloween 🎃
Superhero is always a popular choice in space - for all of the obvious reasons.

American influence extends far beyond traditional diplomacy. It is shaped every day by leaders across business, technology, culture, sports, and communities who build connections, drive innovation, and create opportunities around the world.
I'm honored to be recognized by @MeridianIntl as one of its inaugural 25 New Architects of American Influence.
I look forward to continuing this important work with Axiom Space.