WATCH: Maiden vacuum cleaner test flight...in space

Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov‏ has finally answered an imponderable question that has plagued humanity in the modern age: Can you fly a vacuum cleaner in space?

The Russian Air Force Colonel and fighter pilot turned cosmonaut is currently on his third mission to the International Space Station (ISS), having previously been a member of expeditions 29/30 and 42/43.

According to Shkaplerov, “People often ask if we fly on vacuum cleaners at ISS?” Well those people need wonder no more as this video shows.

Shkaplerov admits that he had never tried to fly a vacuum cleaner in a (sort of) vacuum, but that didn’t stop him trying on Saturday while cleaning the Earth-orbiting space station. The intrepid Russian shared a video of his maiden ‘flight’, which lasted less than half a minute, on Twitter.

He even had a fitting soundtrack for his epic voyage – R Kelly’s nineties hit ‘I believe I can fly.’

This is not the first time Shkaplerov has made headlines with his space research. Back in November he said that bacteria found on the hull of ISS could have come from outer space. “Bacteria that had not been there during the launch of the ISS module were found on the swabs,” Shkaplerov said. “So they have flew from somewhere in space and settled on the outside hull.”

Shkaplerov is one of the more social media savvy cosmouts, treating his followers to a host of arresting images from the space station, from glaciers in Patagonia to the vastness of his homeland.