Italian Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti Celebrates Towel Day on the International Space Station

On May 25, 2015, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti (previously) celebrated Towel Day, a holiday that serves as a tribute to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy writer Douglas Adams, on board the International Space Station.

Cristoforetti gave a reading from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy where the narrator explains how useful a towel can be, and she also tweeted a variety of uses for towels on the ISS itself. She even mentioned a video of previous ISS commander Chris Hadfield demonstrating what happens when a towel is wrung out in microgravity.

A towel is massively useful on the Space Station. For example, you can use it to work your abs on ARED… #TowelDay pic.twitter.com/9azylvjD9X

— Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) May 25, 2015

Use it to recover water into the recycling system: squirt water into towel, hang towel to dry near ventilation grid. pic.twitter.com/Upze6St6Av

— Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) May 25, 2015

Or use it to intercept floating juice drops. If you miss them, use it to clean up the mess. #TowelDay pic.twitter.com/KEnem8D4nE

— Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) May 25, 2015

Use it to show the quirks of water in weightlessness (you have seen that video by @Cmdr_Hadfield, right?) #TowelDay pic.twitter.com/ibvKHnvY5e

— Sam Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) May 25, 2015