diff --git a/spectral_cube/conftest.py b/spectral_cube/conftest.py
index 0d7c158..6fac9b4 100644
--- a/spectral_cube/conftest.py
+++ b/spectral_cube/conftest.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 from __future__ import print_function, absolute_import, division
 
 import os
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+from looseversion import LooseVersion
 from astropy.units.equivalencies import pixel_scale
 
 # Import casatools and casatasks here if available as they can otherwise
diff --git a/spectral_cube/lower_dimensional_structures.py b/spectral_cube/lower_dimensional_structures.py
index f0e3745..1b1e1f8 100644
--- a/spectral_cube/lower_dimensional_structures.py
+++ b/spectral_cube/lower_dimensional_structures.py
@@ -526,7 +526,7 @@ class Projection(LowerDimensionalObject, SpatialCoordMixinClass,
                               " installed.")
 
         # Need version > 0.2 to work with cubes
-        from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+        from looseversion import LooseVersion
         if LooseVersion(version) < "0.3":
             raise Warning("Requires version >=0.3 of reproject. The current "
                           "version is: {}".format(version))
diff --git a/spectral_cube/np_compat.py b/spectral_cube/np_compat.py
index ed4a134..39aa320 100644
--- a/spectral_cube/np_compat.py
+++ b/spectral_cube/np_compat.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import print_function, absolute_import, division
 
 import numpy as np
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+from looseversion import LooseVersion
 
 def allbadtonan(function):
     """
diff --git a/spectral_cube/spectral_cube.py b/spectral_cube/spectral_cube.py
index 771a2d4..af752b4 100644
--- a/spectral_cube/spectral_cube.py
+++ b/spectral_cube/spectral_cube.py
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ from .spectral_axis import (determine_vconv_from_ctype, get_rest_value_from_wcs,
                             doppler_beta, doppler_gamma, doppler_z)
 from .io.core import SpectralCubeRead, SpectralCubeWrite
 
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+from looseversion import LooseVersion
 
 
 __all__ = ['BaseSpectralCube', 'SpectralCube', 'VaryingResolutionSpectralCube']
@@ -2659,7 +2659,7 @@ class BaseSpectralCube(BaseNDClass, MaskableArrayMixinClass,
 
         reproj_kwargs = kwargs
         # Need version > 0.2 to work with cubes, >= 0.5 for memmap
-        from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+        from looseversion import LooseVersion
         if LooseVersion(version) < "0.5":
             raise Warning("Requires version >=0.5 of reproject. The current "
                           "version is: {}".format(version))
diff --git a/spectral_cube/tests/test_masks.py b/spectral_cube/tests/test_masks.py
index c38ba27..1d6895d 100644
--- a/spectral_cube/tests/test_masks.py
+++ b/spectral_cube/tests/test_masks.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ from .. import (BooleanArrayMask, LazyMask, LazyComparisonMask,
                 FunctionMask, CompositeMask)
 from ..masks import is_broadcastable_and_smaller, dims_to_skip, view_of_subset
 
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+from looseversion import LooseVersion
 
 
 def test_spectral_cube_mask():
diff --git a/spectral_cube/tests/test_moments.py b/spectral_cube/tests/test_moments.py
index 3043dd5..7e05c5b 100644
--- a/spectral_cube/tests/test_moments.py
+++ b/spectral_cube/tests/test_moments.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import print_function, absolute_import, division
 
 import warnings
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+from looseversion import LooseVersion
 
 import pytest
 import numpy as np
diff --git a/spectral_cube/tests/test_performance.py b/spectral_cube/tests/test_performance.py
index bdee040..a778abc 100644
--- a/spectral_cube/tests/test_performance.py
+++ b/spectral_cube/tests/test_performance.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ except ImportError:
 
 # The comparison of Quantities in test_memory_usage
 # fail with older versions of numpy
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+from looseversion import LooseVersion
 
 NPY_VERSION_CHECK = LooseVersion(np.version.version) >= "1.13"
 
diff --git a/spectral_cube/tests/test_regrid.py b/spectral_cube/tests/test_regrid.py
index 496ddd5..5b1fec7 100644
--- a/spectral_cube/tests/test_regrid.py
+++ b/spectral_cube/tests/test_regrid.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ except ImportError:
 
 # The comparison of Quantities in test_memory_usage
 # fail with older versions of numpy
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+from looseversion import LooseVersion
 
 NPY_VERSION_CHECK = LooseVersion(np.version.version) >= "1.13"
 
diff --git a/spectral_cube/tests/test_spectral_cube.py b/spectral_cube/tests/test_spectral_cube.py
index 9ebeb7d..93e5647 100644
--- a/spectral_cube/tests/test_spectral_cube.py
+++ b/spectral_cube/tests/test_spectral_cube.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import operator
 import itertools
 import warnings
 import mmap
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+from looseversion import LooseVersion
 import sys
 
 import pytest
diff --git a/spectral_cube/tests/test_subcubes.py b/spectral_cube/tests/test_subcubes.py
index 6f74f68..217c324 100644
--- a/spectral_cube/tests/test_subcubes.py
+++ b/spectral_cube/tests/test_subcubes.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import print_function, absolute_import, division
 
 import pytest
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+from looseversion import LooseVersion
 
 from astropy import units as u
 from astropy import wcs
diff --git a/spectral_cube/tests/test_visualization.py b/spectral_cube/tests/test_visualization.py
index 85ea038..0ac8d58 100644
--- a/spectral_cube/tests/test_visualization.py
+++ b/spectral_cube/tests/test_visualization.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import print_function, absolute_import, division
 
 import pytest
-from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+from looseversion import LooseVersion
 
 from .test_spectral_cube import cube_and_raw