May 13, 2010 • 21 mins
Every astronaut knows that life in space requires numerous adjustments -- after all, things just aren't the same without gravity. So how exactly does a toilet work in space? Learn more about the science behind space's supertoilets in this podcast.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff from the Science Lab from how stuff
works dot com. Hey guys, welcome to the podcast. This
is Alison, I don't know, like, the science editor at
how stuff works dot com. This is Robert Lamb, science
writer at how stuff works dot com. And this week
(00:23):
we're talking about toilets in space. Yes, indeed, we thought
we'd preface the podcast by opening up with some frightening
bathroom stories of our own. Um yeah, well this one's
I'm generally pretty um horrified by porta potties anyway, yes, understandably,
(00:44):
And uh I found myself at the Cachella Music Festival
a few years back, oh, yes, which which is a
great music festival. And to their credit, they didn't just
have your normal stinky um port of John's there. They
also had this deal that was on the back of
a truck that they they brought in and it was
like basically like a full restaurant bathroom. I mean, it's
still heavily trafficked and was, you know, kind of yucky,
(01:07):
but it wasn't as yucky as the other bathroom. So
I'm like, all right, I need a you know, use
the restroom real quick. I'm gonna go on there and
then try not to use the restroom for the rest
of the weekend, which generally my my plan when it
comes to outdoor events. So I get on board, right,
I go inside. I'm taking here of my business and
and then suddenly I'm the only one in there, and
(01:27):
do the trucks start moving? It didn't start moving, but
I heard like an engine roaring, and some guy like
opened the door and he's like, is everybody out? And
I'm like, no, don't leave with me on board, because
then I wouldn't get to enjoy the music festival and
I would be dumped in a landfill somewhere something. So
that was a close call. Brobert, I'm glad you saved
(01:48):
that one for the podcast because that's that's the truly
amazing story. Um yeah, I think on my part, I
occasionally like to run races, and um so before the
start of a marathon or a half maraw fun or
a ten k whatever, what are you gonna want to do?
You're you're not gonna want to you know, go while
you're running that like those crazy marathon runners. I mean,
I'm just people go on they're running, Yes, absolutely, haven't
(02:10):
ever seen them like the marathon, the serious ones do.
I I don't know about number two, but there was
that one woman. Anyway, we don't need to get into
that because it's a podcast about space. Toilet. Um. But yeah,
some of my more frightening bathroom moments have occurred at
the Porta John's before before racist. But I would like
to point out, as you did, that some of them
are nice. We had Portay John's at our wedding and
(02:30):
they're very cleanly cool, I would hope, I mean, especially
if they're new. That's the thing. Once one of Porta
John's new, that's when to go. And I have that
lovely air freshener scent. Yeah, so let's talk about going
in space. Yeah, if you're going to go up to
the International Space Station right now and use the restroom,
you'd find a unisex facility and there's a they have
a funnel that fits over the genital region for both
(02:52):
men and women. There's like a separate attachment for each
and you can go standing up or sitting down. Okay,
I mean you're gonna be virtually weightless anyway, and floating
it's gonna be awkward no matter how how you choose
to position yourself. Um. And then to prevent the astronaut
from from floating away to kind of strap them in, right, Yeah,
(03:13):
you basically have to strap yourself down. So their foot restraints. Um,
there's a toebar to slip slip the feet under, and
there's that even this five bar, there's a lot like
what you put on when you go in and climb
into a roller coaster, and it's gonna be the same
sort of upset stomach feeling, you know, on on board
the space station. So that that makes sense. Um. And
(03:35):
there's no water in the bowl of the toilet. Um,
It's it's all using air. So the air kind of
pulls the waist away. It acts like the water would
in a you know, an earthbound toilet. Um, and it
kind of pushes the waist away from the astronauts body
and you know flushes it essentially like a spinning blade
in the bottom of the of the of the bowl
and it uh, it like sucks everything down, slings it
(03:56):
against the sides and the Yeah, and then like little
holes in the side that like suck up the moisture.
Because that's a big thing, is to separate the moisture
from the solids. Yeah, because the moisture can be recycled
and of course you have to have some way to
filter the air, right right, yeah, yeah, and then you
have to filter filter out the air which can then
be breathed again um on the on the I S
(04:18):
s Liquid waste to recycle through special water treatment facility
and then turned back into drinking water which will go
into a little more later and solid waste goes into
a plastic bag. So as you can imagine, there have
been some pretty historic moments um between astronauts or cosmonauts
as the case may be. And it was kind of
a a long way getting to the modern super toilet
(04:39):
in space. Yeah. Yeah, we actually do have an article
top ten moments in space bathroom history should you care
to delve into the subject a little bit more. But
let's start off with one of the first memorable moments,
compliments of Allen B. Shepherd and his historic first manned
US space flight on May five. Yeah, and this is
I think the only entry, uh they were the only
(04:59):
is storical event they were going to discuss that has
been filmed, um that and it has been dramatized for
the big screen. This is featured in the right stuff.
Poor Alan, you know, he was supposed to go into
space for fifteen minutes, you know, not not not too long.
Maybe he could hold it if you know, he'd done
whatever he had done, or maybe drunk some coffee or
(05:19):
hydrated a little bit before he got on the flight.
But of course NASA, you know, if it's just delays
and there are some technical difficulties, some weather issues, and
so you know, Alan was sitting there for four hours,
that's a long time. And so he, uh, he threw
in the proverbial towel and he he told mission control, Hey, listen, guys,
(05:41):
I gotta go, and they said, no way. So Shepherd
had to had to go in a suit essentially, but
he didn't. Yeah, everything was okay. But yeah, it's like
that they hadn't quite planned that out exactly in aboard
the Space Shuttle Discovery. Um, this is really fascinating. Uh.
Here the the aircraft, a wastewater ent ventning system failed
(06:06):
and so it ended up you ended up having this
giant icicle made of urine began to form on the
outside of the shovel. Taking the sort of picture it
like this dagger of this yellow frozen dagger like sticking
out of the side of the of the of the ship,
and of course they couldn't leave it there, right, Yeah,
they realized that that they started into re entry, the
(06:28):
the icicle could detach, It could damage the heat tiles
and then put everybody in real jeopardy. So they had
to use their shuttle's robotic arm to reach out and
like attack the urine cicckle and break it off so
that they could re enter. It's like, I mean, this
is robots versus urine space urine. I mean, it's it.
It doesn't get me anymore amazing than that. Yeah, the
(06:52):
robot one tiles were saved. The crew hadn't had no
trouble returning, but they had to shut down the urine
collection system for the rest of the trip just six days,
which brings me to my point. I mean, we're talking
about this, how long could you feasibly hold it? I mean,
you're not gonna be able to hold it for six days,
So maybe you just go back to more primitive methods
of collection. Yeah, you could. You could just try and
(07:12):
hold it as long as possible, I guess. Yeah, So
what does happen to you physiologically if you hold it?
We we looked into this because I was curious. You know,
it's not actually your bladder bursting so much, because your
bladder is this amazingly like tough muscular bag. It's really
more question of the flow kind of backing up and
going back into your kidneys and then having all sorts
of issues with disrupting your chemical balance. Supposedly that's how
(07:36):
Tycho Brahi died, the famed astronomer. Yeah, that's not that
on the straight dope. I don't buy it. Well, no,
there are two there are two different versions of this. Well,
there's also a really big theory that he may have
been poisoned by a rival. But the older story was
that he was setting at the at the banquet table
and he's having such a great time that he didn't
want to get up and relieve himself, so he just
he just held it and it ended up backing up
(07:57):
and killing him. So there you go, another space connection.
That doesn't sound like a pleasant way to go. So then,
of course you guys are familiar with the wearable toilet,
essentially the space diaper. Babies use a lot, right, Yeah,
I am familiar with the disposable kind, as I see
a lot of those these days. Um, having children two
young ones. Um actually one of whom is almost finished
(08:19):
potty training her, right, So yeah, going to the bathroom
becomes even more challenging when astronauts take a walk outside
the spacecraft. So what are they going to use? Then
they can't really, you know, just drop their space suit
or whatever, So they have to use one of these
super absorbent adult diapers. And these things are crazy, crazy absorbent.
They can hold a quart of liquid. And then of
(08:40):
course astronauts are going to use diapers on takeoff and
landing and um, you know, after the takeoff and landing
or the space walk, whatever it is that you have
to wear a diaper for, they just dispose them in
a storage area and you know, be done with it.
And as we learned in two thousand four with the
case of Lisa and No whack uh um, you can
(09:00):
also wear them if you have just a really long,
angry drive ahead of you to go confront a a
rival suitor. Right. Yeah. I believe Lisa's rival was Colleen Shipman,
and they were it was basically an astronaut love triangle here,
and she had some of these magnificent space diapers with
her and so yeah, she brought them along. I didn't
(09:23):
understand she didn't actually use them, but the idea was
that she brought them in case she just wanted to
keep driving. Yeah, Lisa was always prepared, it seems like.
And it seems that one of her diapers may have
ended up for auction on eBay with a starting bit
of about two. So I about that. But I'm not
quite done with this subject yet, because we also need
to tell you with the Japanese Airspace Exploration Agency has
(09:45):
a has been working on. So they've been working on
this toilet that's a lot like a high tech diaper. Well,
there you go. I mean that anytime there's some sort
of technology, the Japanese always come up with something more amazing. Well,
so this one's pretty ingenious. And if it goes through, um, basically,
if you're an astronaut, you will never have to take
a bathroom break. And that's pretty handy because you have
a lot of important stuff to do on uh these missions.
(10:08):
You know, sometimes like like literally your life hangs in
the balance and there's just no time right right, So
the Japanese have thought of this, and they they've come
up with this idea for a toilet that contains motion sensors,
and these sensors can detect when an astronaut is going
to the bathroom and trigger this automatic section unit that
(10:30):
can draw the waste away. Okay, here's the part that
I really love about this. So once you're done doing
your business, the machine washes and drives the wear and
and also, according to Jackson, you can go to the
bathroom in close quarters without any of your astronaut colleagues knowing. Yeah,
that's I don't buy that at all. I'm thinking you're
(10:51):
gonna know, like, how are you not gonna look like
you're soiling yourself while don't you listen to your fellow
astronauts conversation? I mean, unless you look like that all
the time, and then God help you must be a
miserable conversationalist. Anyway, it would be sort of an awkward conversation. Yeah,
but what do you think about the possibility for future
like infant diapers. Do you think they'll come a time
where you put on like one diaper a week, in
(11:13):
in in in a good way and not in a
neglecting parent kind of way. You know, just strap them on.
Diaper takes care of everything, and then you know, like
after a week right, all right, take care of the diaper.
I'm not sure how you would take care of sort
of some of the sanitary issues involved there the diaper
does it? Yeah, Japanese babies of the future are going
to be just completely self contained. So take us on
(11:35):
board the Apollo in some of the horrors there. Oh god, yeah,
now this is my my favorite. And again these are
these are your old school UM uh space bathroom facilities,
and they are our current UM backup plans. So if
the if the modern toilet fails, this is what they
may end up doing. Um. If you're gonna go number
two and then you're gonna have to use something that
(11:57):
looks that looks apparently a top hat, except it does
not go on your head. It basically you take this
to your backside. Yeah, and uh and then you you
poop in it. Um. But wait, where did you find
this out? By the way? Um, Well, there are a
couple of sources for this. UM. Andrew Chicken's description of
(12:18):
of this is in A Man on the Moon The
Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts, and then UH Aerospace education
specialist Gordon Eskridge also wrote about it. In two thousand nine.
Escot wrote about it in a little more detail that
we're gonna get to here. So if you want the
really down and dirty facts, then you need to see
(12:38):
seek out his h his essay Astronauts Trained for using
the Bathroom in Space. It's a very riveting read. Um.
But but yeah, basically, you you you tape this top
hat um to your rear, you do your business and
uh and then you have to need germicide into the contents. Yeah,
(12:58):
and then and you're gonna have to like everything is labeled,
so it's like in color coded, so you like you
you write down when you went, who you are, and
then later this goes back and they can NASA can
analyze it to see how you're digesting everything. Because it's
and it makes perfect sense. It's like if you're gonna
be forced to use the emergency toilet and you're gonna
have to bag it and bring it back home, you
might as well be able to and you can gain
(13:19):
a lot of important health information from looking at its tool.
That's that simple. However, according to Chicken one, Apollo seven
astronaut Um shared this bit of advice that you should
be prepared to quote get naked, allow an hour and
have plenty of tissues handy. So it does not sound
like a pleasant or deal at all. And that's just
(13:40):
going number two. Number one apparently involves hooking. It would
apparently involve on the Apollo flights, hooking yourself up to
this kind of tube, which for the men is an
adhesive condom that kind of empties to the outside of
the ship, which is also sounds potentially horrible, right section
(14:03):
could be a problem. Everybody can use your imagination on
that one. Um. So, yeah, Apollo, of the Apollo astronauts
really had to rough it. Uh, these guys don't know
how easy they have it, no doubt. Well, so the
bathrooms may have gotten better, but today there's a little
bit of infighting specifically among the Russians and the Americans.
And they're not fighting over the top hat. They're not
(14:25):
fighting over the top hat. Indeed, so leaving on the
International Space Station, you know, I mean things, people get
a little cranky. You know, you're in my space. Give
me some elbow rooms on the bathroom, Big Brother show, right,
except in space with people who should know better, right right?
I mean, you know, we're conducting this vaulted research and
these crazy missions and in one of the most extreme
(14:46):
and dangerous environments that we venture into, But it all
comes down to petty stuff like we gets to use
the bathroom. So in two thousand nine, cosmonaut Padalka, a
Russian gentleman, took that universal struggle to new Heights and
he told a Russian newspaper that the Americans weren't letting
him use the bathroom on their side of the space
station burn. Yeah. Yeah, So the Americans, as it turns out,
(15:10):
we're getting back at the Russians who had started finding
them for who had started finding NASA for resources used
by the US astronauts, and so this they had started
doing us back in two thousand three. So NASA had
enough and they're like, you know what you're gonna find us.
We're not gonna let you use the camp. And what
I love about this is that it's generally not the
the astronaut truly, it's it's I mean, this comes down
(15:31):
to Russia and the United States. Um, you know, haven't
been getting along all that wealth of late, so there's
been some tension and it just sort of spills over
into orbit and and and and to me, anyway, I
think it illuminates just how petty like it. It looks
pretty petty in orbit when it's like fights over food
or bathrooms, not sharing food and not sharing the bathroom. Um,
(15:51):
but it kind of illuminates just how petty any of
the conflict is. You know. Yeah, I got to imagine
that the astronauts of the cosmonauts in space aren't really
going to be arguing. I imagine they get along pretty well. Yeah,
I would hope, So maybe I'm an optimist. But back
on Earth, you know, in the States or in Russia,
it's some poor slabs job to to define these policies
about bathroom use and who may use what. It's crazy
(16:15):
and it's also some port slav's job. But you're on
Earth to um to get the budgets approved to pay
for all this stuff up there, of course. Um yeah,
how much are we talking? On two thousand eight, uh,
NASA announced plans to invest two hundred and fifty million
in a space toilet toilet, and um, I imagined that
went over well with the constituency. Yeah, because I mean
(16:36):
pays and the headline rights itself. It's like NASA, you know,
once to spend two fifty million on a on a toilet,
Well you know, blah blah blah. You know, it's just
it's it's ridiculous sounding. But um, the toilet in question
involved a water processor that filters urine and makes and
also takes sweat and moisture from hanging wet towels and
(16:57):
makes it all drinkable again and use. So it's not
just a you know, one guy uses the bathroom and
then we're out that water. Um, you'll be able to
recycle it and uh. And and it's not like it
would just have uses in space like this kind of technology,
you know, sort of like velcro. You know, we've developed
it for up there. We have a peace get down here,
work on a fancy water filtration system, the water filtration
(17:21):
system for orbit, and eventually we able to to U
to reap the fruits of that technology here on Earth. Yeah.
And they also said it had some serious conservation benefits,
to the tune of about seven tons of water yearly. Yeah.
And which is it sounds like a lot here, it's
even more up there because remember everything UM have, every
resource in orbit has to be UM transported there at
(17:43):
great cost. Right, So my question for you is would
you drink the water totally? Yeah? Right, dune comes up
in a lot of podcasts. Have you seen it? Have
you seen it? You have not? Do you about seeing it?
In the last podcast, Robbert, we don't even need to
get there because I want to tell you about the
(18:05):
two thousand nine toilet breakdown. Okay, So what happens when
when you know your facilities break on Earth? You you
call the plumber, right, But what happens when a when
a commode goes on the fritz and space it's not
as easy. So back in July two thou nine, when
the toilets on the International Space Station broke when it's
(18:26):
a pump separator flooded. So it forced the six crew
members and seven visiting astronauts from the Space Shuttle Endeavor
to share one one facility, one toilet on the on
the U S side, Or of course they could ask
permission to use the Russian facilities. Yeah, nobody wants to
do that, so at least the astronauts had other working
(18:48):
facilities available. A year earlier, the space station was equipped
with only one toilet, and when that one went and
was just bring out the top ats right, Well, they're
left crossing their fingers and their legs. I guess they're
able to form some emergency plumbing tricks and they got
it back up. Yeah, I have to say that. I
mean that's stressful. Yeah. I mean the stress of being
(19:09):
an astronaut and then the stress of not being able
to relieve yourself. Yeah, I mean just a toilet going
wrong on earth, like in your own house. I mean,
for me, that's just devastating and and and the little
maddening like it happen us one time. It wasn't our
fault at all. It was like some sort of sewage thing,
and it's like you're like a gurgling and I go
in and it's just like nightmare, you know, rising up
(19:30):
from the toilet and then overflowing. And I almost couldn't
handle it. So I can't imagine if there hadn't been
gravity Jesus. I remember this one a holiday we had
my family down. It was one of the first years
we were living in Atlanta, and uh, my parents came
down and my brother came down, and we were all
sharing this one bathroom in this rental house we lived in.
And of course that's when the you know, that's when
(19:51):
the facilities go. And one of my family members, who
shall remove nameless yeah, you know, you it the thing
got backed up and you other way toilets. You know,
it was just it was you know, and there were
all of our towels, towels. Was it was bad. Yeah. So,
I mean it's stressful on Earth, imagine when it's like
in space. Right. Um. One thing about urine in space, though, um,
(20:15):
is that it's supposedly pretty beautiful. No way. Yeah. Some
of the astronauts accounts have mentioned that that when when
urine has been ejected outside of a spaceship, that it
freezes instantly, and so you have all these little golden
ice crystals that just sort of drift off and they
catch the sunlight and glint. So it's it's supposed to
(20:36):
be uh, downright pretty, I believe it. So that's what
we got. There's a there's some some interesting facts about
going to the bathroom in space. Yeah, I'm all over
that the next time you have to hit the throne. So, yeah,
you can hit our blogs to find out what the
latest podcast topics are and uh find out about such
(20:56):
things as the Wonders of the double Sex Chicken. Yeah,
and if you guys want to send us an email
about space bathrooms or something related shoot us a note
at science stuff at us to fricks dot com for
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(21:19):
check out our blogs on the house stuff works dot
com home page
Welcome to Stuff from the Science Lab from how stuff
works dot com. Hey guys, welcome to the podcast. This
is Alison, I don't know, like, the science editor at
how stuff works dot com. This is Robert Lamb, science
writer at how stuff works dot com. And this week
(00:23):
we're talking about toilets in space. Yes, indeed, we thought
we'd preface the podcast by opening up with some frightening
bathroom stories of our own. Um yeah, well this one's
I'm generally pretty um horrified by porta potties anyway, yes, understandably,
(00:44):
And uh I found myself at the Cachella Music Festival
a few years back, oh, yes, which which is a
great music festival. And to their credit, they didn't just
have your normal stinky um port of John's there. They
also had this deal that was on the back of
a truck that they they brought in and it was
like basically like a full restaurant bathroom. I mean, it's
still heavily trafficked and was, you know, kind of yucky,
(01:07):
but it wasn't as yucky as the other bathroom. So
I'm like, all right, I need a you know, use
the restroom real quick. I'm gonna go on there and
then try not to use the restroom for the rest
of the weekend, which generally my my plan when it
comes to outdoor events. So I get on board, right,
I go inside. I'm taking here of my business and
and then suddenly I'm the only one in there, and
(01:27):
do the trucks start moving? It didn't start moving, but
I heard like an engine roaring, and some guy like
opened the door and he's like, is everybody out? And
I'm like, no, don't leave with me on board, because
then I wouldn't get to enjoy the music festival and
I would be dumped in a landfill somewhere something. So
that was a close call. Brobert, I'm glad you saved
(01:48):
that one for the podcast because that's that's the truly
amazing story. Um yeah, I think on my part, I
occasionally like to run races, and um so before the
start of a marathon or a half maraw fun or
a ten k whatever, what are you gonna want to do?
You're you're not gonna want to you know, go while
you're running that like those crazy marathon runners. I mean,
I'm just people go on they're running, Yes, absolutely, haven't
(02:10):
ever seen them like the marathon, the serious ones do.
I I don't know about number two, but there was
that one woman. Anyway, we don't need to get into
that because it's a podcast about space. Toilet. Um. But yeah,
some of my more frightening bathroom moments have occurred at
the Porta John's before before racist. But I would like
to point out, as you did, that some of them
are nice. We had Portay John's at our wedding and
(02:30):
they're very cleanly cool, I would hope, I mean, especially
if they're new. That's the thing. Once one of Porta
John's new, that's when to go. And I have that
lovely air freshener scent. Yeah, so let's talk about going
in space. Yeah, if you're going to go up to
the International Space Station right now and use the restroom,
you'd find a unisex facility and there's a they have
a funnel that fits over the genital region for both
(02:52):
men and women. There's like a separate attachment for each
and you can go standing up or sitting down. Okay,
I mean you're gonna be virtually weightless anyway, and floating
it's gonna be awkward no matter how how you choose
to position yourself. Um. And then to prevent the astronaut
from from floating away to kind of strap them in, right, Yeah,
(03:13):
you basically have to strap yourself down. So their foot restraints. Um,
there's a toebar to slip slip the feet under, and
there's that even this five bar, there's a lot like
what you put on when you go in and climb
into a roller coaster, and it's gonna be the same
sort of upset stomach feeling, you know, on on board
the space station. So that that makes sense. Um. And
(03:35):
there's no water in the bowl of the toilet. Um,
It's it's all using air. So the air kind of
pulls the waist away. It acts like the water would
in a you know, an earthbound toilet. Um, and it
kind of pushes the waist away from the astronauts body
and you know flushes it essentially like a spinning blade
in the bottom of the of the of the bowl
and it uh, it like sucks everything down, slings it
(03:56):
against the sides and the Yeah, and then like little
holes in the side that like suck up the moisture.
Because that's a big thing, is to separate the moisture
from the solids. Yeah, because the moisture can be recycled
and of course you have to have some way to
filter the air, right right, yeah, yeah, and then you
have to filter filter out the air which can then
be breathed again um on the on the I S
(04:18):
s Liquid waste to recycle through special water treatment facility
and then turned back into drinking water which will go
into a little more later and solid waste goes into
a plastic bag. So as you can imagine, there have
been some pretty historic moments um between astronauts or cosmonauts
as the case may be. And it was kind of
a a long way getting to the modern super toilet
(04:39):
in space. Yeah. Yeah, we actually do have an article
top ten moments in space bathroom history should you care
to delve into the subject a little bit more. But
let's start off with one of the first memorable moments,
compliments of Allen B. Shepherd and his historic first manned
US space flight on May five. Yeah, and this is
I think the only entry, uh they were the only
(04:59):
is storical event they were going to discuss that has
been filmed, um that and it has been dramatized for
the big screen. This is featured in the right stuff.
Poor Alan, you know, he was supposed to go into
space for fifteen minutes, you know, not not not too long.
Maybe he could hold it if you know, he'd done
whatever he had done, or maybe drunk some coffee or
(05:19):
hydrated a little bit before he got on the flight.
But of course NASA, you know, if it's just delays
and there are some technical difficulties, some weather issues, and
so you know, Alan was sitting there for four hours,
that's a long time. And so he, uh, he threw
in the proverbial towel and he he told mission control, Hey, listen, guys,
(05:41):
I gotta go, and they said, no way. So Shepherd
had to had to go in a suit essentially, but
he didn't. Yeah, everything was okay. But yeah, it's like
that they hadn't quite planned that out exactly in aboard
the Space Shuttle Discovery. Um, this is really fascinating. Uh.
Here the the aircraft, a wastewater ent ventning system failed
(06:06):
and so it ended up you ended up having this
giant icicle made of urine began to form on the
outside of the shovel. Taking the sort of picture it
like this dagger of this yellow frozen dagger like sticking
out of the side of the of the of the ship,
and of course they couldn't leave it there, right, Yeah,
they realized that that they started into re entry, the
(06:28):
the icicle could detach, It could damage the heat tiles
and then put everybody in real jeopardy. So they had
to use their shuttle's robotic arm to reach out and
like attack the urine cicckle and break it off so
that they could re enter. It's like, I mean, this
is robots versus urine space urine. I mean, it's it.
It doesn't get me anymore amazing than that. Yeah, the
(06:52):
robot one tiles were saved. The crew hadn't had no
trouble returning, but they had to shut down the urine
collection system for the rest of the trip just six days,
which brings me to my point. I mean, we're talking
about this, how long could you feasibly hold it? I mean,
you're not gonna be able to hold it for six days,
So maybe you just go back to more primitive methods
of collection. Yeah, you could. You could just try and
(07:12):
hold it as long as possible, I guess. Yeah, So
what does happen to you physiologically if you hold it?
We we looked into this because I was curious. You know,
it's not actually your bladder bursting so much, because your
bladder is this amazingly like tough muscular bag. It's really
more question of the flow kind of backing up and
going back into your kidneys and then having all sorts
of issues with disrupting your chemical balance. Supposedly that's how
(07:36):
Tycho Brahi died, the famed astronomer. Yeah, that's not that
on the straight dope. I don't buy it. Well, no,
there are two there are two different versions of this. Well,
there's also a really big theory that he may have
been poisoned by a rival. But the older story was
that he was setting at the at the banquet table
and he's having such a great time that he didn't
want to get up and relieve himself, so he just
he just held it and it ended up backing up
(07:57):
and killing him. So there you go, another space connection.
That doesn't sound like a pleasant way to go. So then,
of course you guys are familiar with the wearable toilet,
essentially the space diaper. Babies use a lot, right, Yeah,
I am familiar with the disposable kind, as I see
a lot of those these days. Um, having children two
young ones. Um actually one of whom is almost finished
(08:19):
potty training her, right, So yeah, going to the bathroom
becomes even more challenging when astronauts take a walk outside
the spacecraft. So what are they going to use? Then
they can't really, you know, just drop their space suit
or whatever, So they have to use one of these
super absorbent adult diapers. And these things are crazy, crazy absorbent.
They can hold a quart of liquid. And then of
(08:40):
course astronauts are going to use diapers on takeoff and
landing and um, you know, after the takeoff and landing
or the space walk, whatever it is that you have
to wear a diaper for, they just dispose them in
a storage area and you know, be done with it.
And as we learned in two thousand four with the
case of Lisa and No whack uh um, you can
(09:00):
also wear them if you have just a really long,
angry drive ahead of you to go confront a a
rival suitor. Right. Yeah. I believe Lisa's rival was Colleen Shipman,
and they were it was basically an astronaut love triangle here,
and she had some of these magnificent space diapers with
her and so yeah, she brought them along. I didn't
(09:23):
understand she didn't actually use them, but the idea was
that she brought them in case she just wanted to
keep driving. Yeah, Lisa was always prepared, it seems like.
And it seems that one of her diapers may have
ended up for auction on eBay with a starting bit
of about two. So I about that. But I'm not
quite done with this subject yet, because we also need
to tell you with the Japanese Airspace Exploration Agency has
(09:45):
a has been working on. So they've been working on
this toilet that's a lot like a high tech diaper. Well,
there you go. I mean that anytime there's some sort
of technology, the Japanese always come up with something more amazing. Well,
so this one's pretty ingenious. And if it goes through, um, basically,
if you're an astronaut, you will never have to take
a bathroom break. And that's pretty handy because you have
a lot of important stuff to do on uh these missions.
(10:08):
You know, sometimes like like literally your life hangs in
the balance and there's just no time right right, So
the Japanese have thought of this, and they they've come
up with this idea for a toilet that contains motion sensors,
and these sensors can detect when an astronaut is going
to the bathroom and trigger this automatic section unit that
(10:30):
can draw the waste away. Okay, here's the part that
I really love about this. So once you're done doing
your business, the machine washes and drives the wear and
and also, according to Jackson, you can go to the
bathroom in close quarters without any of your astronaut colleagues knowing. Yeah,
that's I don't buy that at all. I'm thinking you're
(10:51):
gonna know, like, how are you not gonna look like
you're soiling yourself while don't you listen to your fellow
astronauts conversation? I mean, unless you look like that all
the time, and then God help you must be a
miserable conversationalist. Anyway, it would be sort of an awkward conversation. Yeah,
but what do you think about the possibility for future
like infant diapers. Do you think they'll come a time
where you put on like one diaper a week, in
(11:13):
in in in a good way and not in a
neglecting parent kind of way. You know, just strap them on.
Diaper takes care of everything, and then you know, like
after a week right, all right, take care of the diaper.
I'm not sure how you would take care of sort
of some of the sanitary issues involved there the diaper
does it? Yeah, Japanese babies of the future are going
to be just completely self contained. So take us on
(11:35):
board the Apollo in some of the horrors there. Oh god, yeah,
now this is my my favorite. And again these are
these are your old school UM uh space bathroom facilities,
and they are our current UM backup plans. So if
the if the modern toilet fails, this is what they
may end up doing. Um. If you're gonna go number
two and then you're gonna have to use something that
(11:57):
looks that looks apparently a top hat, except it does
not go on your head. It basically you take this
to your backside. Yeah, and uh and then you you
poop in it. Um. But wait, where did you find
this out? By the way? Um, Well, there are a
couple of sources for this. UM. Andrew Chicken's description of
(12:18):
of this is in A Man on the Moon The
Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts, and then UH Aerospace education
specialist Gordon Eskridge also wrote about it. In two thousand nine.
Escot wrote about it in a little more detail that
we're gonna get to here. So if you want the
really down and dirty facts, then you need to see
(12:38):
seek out his h his essay Astronauts Trained for using
the Bathroom in Space. It's a very riveting read. Um.
But but yeah, basically, you you you tape this top
hat um to your rear, you do your business and
uh and then you have to need germicide into the contents. Yeah,
(12:58):
and then and you're gonna have to like everything is labeled,
so it's like in color coded, so you like you
you write down when you went, who you are, and
then later this goes back and they can NASA can
analyze it to see how you're digesting everything. Because it's
and it makes perfect sense. It's like if you're gonna
be forced to use the emergency toilet and you're gonna
have to bag it and bring it back home, you
might as well be able to and you can gain
(13:19):
a lot of important health information from looking at its tool.
That's that simple. However, according to Chicken one, Apollo seven
astronaut Um shared this bit of advice that you should
be prepared to quote get naked, allow an hour and
have plenty of tissues handy. So it does not sound
like a pleasant or deal at all. And that's just
(13:40):
going number two. Number one apparently involves hooking. It would
apparently involve on the Apollo flights, hooking yourself up to
this kind of tube, which for the men is an
adhesive condom that kind of empties to the outside of
the ship, which is also sounds potentially horrible, right section
(14:03):
could be a problem. Everybody can use your imagination on
that one. Um. So, yeah, Apollo, of the Apollo astronauts
really had to rough it. Uh, these guys don't know
how easy they have it, no doubt. Well, so the
bathrooms may have gotten better, but today there's a little
bit of infighting specifically among the Russians and the Americans.
And they're not fighting over the top hat. They're not
(14:25):
fighting over the top hat. Indeed, so leaving on the
International Space Station, you know, I mean things, people get
a little cranky. You know, you're in my space. Give
me some elbow rooms on the bathroom, Big Brother show, right,
except in space with people who should know better, right right?
I mean, you know, we're conducting this vaulted research and
these crazy missions and in one of the most extreme
(14:46):
and dangerous environments that we venture into, But it all
comes down to petty stuff like we gets to use
the bathroom. So in two thousand nine, cosmonaut Padalka, a
Russian gentleman, took that universal struggle to new Heights and
he told a Russian newspaper that the Americans weren't letting
him use the bathroom on their side of the space
station burn. Yeah. Yeah, So the Americans, as it turns out,
(15:10):
we're getting back at the Russians who had started finding
them for who had started finding NASA for resources used
by the US astronauts, and so this they had started
doing us back in two thousand three. So NASA had
enough and they're like, you know what you're gonna find us.
We're not gonna let you use the camp. And what
I love about this is that it's generally not the
the astronaut truly, it's it's I mean, this comes down
(15:31):
to Russia and the United States. Um, you know, haven't
been getting along all that wealth of late, so there's
been some tension and it just sort of spills over
into orbit and and and and to me, anyway, I
think it illuminates just how petty like it. It looks
pretty petty in orbit when it's like fights over food
or bathrooms, not sharing food and not sharing the bathroom. Um,
(15:51):
but it kind of illuminates just how petty any of
the conflict is. You know. Yeah, I got to imagine
that the astronauts of the cosmonauts in space aren't really
going to be arguing. I imagine they get along pretty well. Yeah,
I would hope, So maybe I'm an optimist. But back
on Earth, you know, in the States or in Russia,
it's some poor slabs job to to define these policies
about bathroom use and who may use what. It's crazy
(16:15):
and it's also some port slav's job. But you're on
Earth to um to get the budgets approved to pay
for all this stuff up there, of course. Um yeah,
how much are we talking? On two thousand eight, uh,
NASA announced plans to invest two hundred and fifty million
in a space toilet toilet, and um, I imagined that
went over well with the constituency. Yeah, because I mean
(16:36):
pays and the headline rights itself. It's like NASA, you know,
once to spend two fifty million on a on a toilet,
Well you know, blah blah blah. You know, it's just
it's it's ridiculous sounding. But um, the toilet in question
involved a water processor that filters urine and makes and
also takes sweat and moisture from hanging wet towels and
(16:57):
makes it all drinkable again and use. So it's not
just a you know, one guy uses the bathroom and
then we're out that water. Um, you'll be able to
recycle it and uh. And and it's not like it
would just have uses in space like this kind of technology,
you know, sort of like velcro. You know, we've developed
it for up there. We have a peace get down here,
work on a fancy water filtration system, the water filtration
(17:21):
system for orbit, and eventually we able to to U
to reap the fruits of that technology here on Earth. Yeah.
And they also said it had some serious conservation benefits,
to the tune of about seven tons of water yearly. Yeah.
And which is it sounds like a lot here, it's
even more up there because remember everything UM have, every
resource in orbit has to be UM transported there at
(17:43):
great cost. Right, So my question for you is would
you drink the water totally? Yeah? Right, dune comes up
in a lot of podcasts. Have you seen it? Have
you seen it? You have not? Do you about seeing it?
In the last podcast, Robbert, we don't even need to
get there because I want to tell you about the
(18:05):
two thousand nine toilet breakdown. Okay, So what happens when
when you know your facilities break on Earth? You you
call the plumber, right, But what happens when a when
a commode goes on the fritz and space it's not
as easy. So back in July two thou nine, when
the toilets on the International Space Station broke when it's
(18:26):
a pump separator flooded. So it forced the six crew
members and seven visiting astronauts from the Space Shuttle Endeavor
to share one one facility, one toilet on the on
the U S side, Or of course they could ask
permission to use the Russian facilities. Yeah, nobody wants to
do that, so at least the astronauts had other working
(18:48):
facilities available. A year earlier, the space station was equipped
with only one toilet, and when that one went and
was just bring out the top ats right, Well, they're
left crossing their fingers and their legs. I guess they're
able to form some emergency plumbing tricks and they got
it back up. Yeah, I have to say that. I
mean that's stressful. Yeah. I mean the stress of being
(19:09):
an astronaut and then the stress of not being able
to relieve yourself. Yeah, I mean just a toilet going
wrong on earth, like in your own house. I mean,
for me, that's just devastating and and and the little
maddening like it happen us one time. It wasn't our
fault at all. It was like some sort of sewage thing,
and it's like you're like a gurgling and I go
in and it's just like nightmare, you know, rising up
(19:30):
from the toilet and then overflowing. And I almost couldn't
handle it. So I can't imagine if there hadn't been
gravity Jesus. I remember this one a holiday we had
my family down. It was one of the first years
we were living in Atlanta, and uh, my parents came
down and my brother came down, and we were all
sharing this one bathroom in this rental house we lived in.
And of course that's when the you know, that's when
(19:51):
the facilities go. And one of my family members, who
shall remove nameless yeah, you know, you it the thing
got backed up and you other way toilets. You know,
it was just it was you know, and there were
all of our towels, towels. Was it was bad. Yeah. So,
I mean it's stressful on Earth, imagine when it's like
in space. Right. Um. One thing about urine in space, though, um,
(20:15):
is that it's supposedly pretty beautiful. No way. Yeah. Some
of the astronauts accounts have mentioned that that when when
urine has been ejected outside of a spaceship, that it
freezes instantly, and so you have all these little golden
ice crystals that just sort of drift off and they
catch the sunlight and glint. So it's it's supposed to
(20:36):
be uh, downright pretty, I believe it. So that's what
we got. There's a there's some some interesting facts about
going to the bathroom in space. Yeah, I'm all over
that the next time you have to hit the throne. So, yeah,
you can hit our blogs to find out what the
latest podcast topics are and uh find out about such
(20:56):
things as the Wonders of the double Sex Chicken. Yeah,
and if you guys want to send us an email
about space bathrooms or something related shoot us a note
at science stuff at us to fricks dot com for
more on thiss and thousands of other topics. Is that
how stuff works dot com. Want more how stuff works,
(21:19):
check out our blogs on the house stuff works dot
com home page
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