First crew to shave in space

NASA’s Apollo 10 mission, 18–26 May 1969, was the second to orbit the Moon in a dress rehearsal for the first landing by Apollo 11. Its crew, Thomas Stafford, John Young and Gene Cernan, were the first crew to shave in space. They found the mechanical shaver developed by NASA inadequate, and resorted to old-fashioned razors and shaving cream. During the mission Young joked with mission control: ‘This is a remarkable innovation. After spending a lot of money on mechanical shavers which always manage to leave the whiskers flying around in the atmosphere, somebody finally came out with the idea of using a straight razor and brushless shaving cream. You rub it on, it keeps the whiskers when you shave it off, you put it in a towel and dispose of it, and you end up clean shaven.’ Mission control replied: ‘That’s amazing 10, that’s what the space age does for you.’