1
00:00:01,560 --> 00:00:04,760
Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff from the Science Lab from how stuff

2
00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:16,360
Speaker 1: works dot com. Hey guys, welcome to the podcast. This

3
00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:18,119
Speaker 1: is Alison, I don't know, like, the science editor at

4
00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:20,640
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. This is Robert Lamb, science

5
00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:23,160
Speaker 1: writer at how stuff works dot com. And this week

6
00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:30,080
Speaker 1: we're talking about toilets in space. Yes, indeed, we thought

7
00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:34,240
Speaker 1: we'd preface the podcast by opening up with some frightening

8
00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:37,880
Speaker 1: bathroom stories of our own. Um yeah, well this one's

9
00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:44,200
Speaker 1: I'm generally pretty um horrified by porta potties anyway, yes, understandably,

10
00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,360
Speaker 1: And uh I found myself at the Cachella Music Festival

11
00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,760
Speaker 1: a few years back, oh, yes, which which is a

12
00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:52,440
Speaker 1: great music festival. And to their credit, they didn't just

13
00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:56,960
Speaker 1: have your normal stinky um port of John's there. They

14
00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:58,760
Speaker 1: also had this deal that was on the back of

15
00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:01,080
Speaker 1: a truck that they they brought in and it was

16
00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,920
Speaker 1: like basically like a full restaurant bathroom. I mean, it's

17
00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:07,240
Speaker 1: still heavily trafficked and was, you know, kind of yucky,

18
00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:09,720
Speaker 1: but it wasn't as yucky as the other bathroom. So

19
00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:11,880
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, I need a you know, use

20
00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:13,560
Speaker 1: the restroom real quick. I'm gonna go on there and

21
00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:15,360
Speaker 1: then try not to use the restroom for the rest

22
00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:18,319
Speaker 1: of the weekend, which generally my my plan when it

23
00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,080
Speaker 1: comes to outdoor events. So I get on board, right,

24
00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:24,640
Speaker 1: I go inside. I'm taking here of my business and

25
00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:26,920
Speaker 1: and then suddenly I'm the only one in there, and

26
00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:30,319
Speaker 1: do the trucks start moving? It didn't start moving, but

27
00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,040
Speaker 1: I heard like an engine roaring, and some guy like

28
00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:35,160
Speaker 1: opened the door and he's like, is everybody out? And

29
00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,720
Speaker 1: I'm like, no, don't leave with me on board, because

30
00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:40,959
Speaker 1: then I wouldn't get to enjoy the music festival and

31
00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:45,880
Speaker 1: I would be dumped in a landfill somewhere something. So

32
00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:48,480
Speaker 1: that was a close call. Brobert, I'm glad you saved

33
00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:50,720
Speaker 1: that one for the podcast because that's that's the truly

34
00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:54,040
Speaker 1: amazing story. Um yeah, I think on my part, I

35
00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:58,320
Speaker 1: occasionally like to run races, and um so before the

36
00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:00,360
Speaker 1: start of a marathon or a half maraw fun or

37
00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:02,720
Speaker 1: a ten k whatever, what are you gonna want to do?

38
00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:04,360
Speaker 1: You're you're not gonna want to you know, go while

39
00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:06,480
Speaker 1: you're running that like those crazy marathon runners. I mean,

40
00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:10,239
Speaker 1: I'm just people go on they're running, Yes, absolutely, haven't

41
00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:13,200
Speaker 1: ever seen them like the marathon, the serious ones do.

42
00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:15,079
Speaker 1: I I don't know about number two, but there was

43
00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:17,399
Speaker 1: that one woman. Anyway, we don't need to get into

44
00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:21,880
Speaker 1: that because it's a podcast about space. Toilet. Um. But yeah,

45
00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:24,520
Speaker 1: some of my more frightening bathroom moments have occurred at

46
00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,160
Speaker 1: the Porta John's before before racist. But I would like

47
00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:28,600
Speaker 1: to point out, as you did, that some of them

48
00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:30,440
Speaker 1: are nice. We had Portay John's at our wedding and

49
00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:33,160
Speaker 1: they're very cleanly cool, I would hope, I mean, especially

50
00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:35,120
Speaker 1: if they're new. That's the thing. Once one of Porta

51
00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,480
Speaker 1: John's new, that's when to go. And I have that

52
00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:41,040
Speaker 1: lovely air freshener scent. Yeah, so let's talk about going

53
00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:43,000
Speaker 1: in space. Yeah, if you're going to go up to

54
00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:46,120
Speaker 1: the International Space Station right now and use the restroom,

55
00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:49,160
Speaker 1: you'd find a unisex facility and there's a they have

56
00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,760
Speaker 1: a funnel that fits over the genital region for both

57
00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,000
Speaker 1: men and women. There's like a separate attachment for each

58
00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:58,840
Speaker 1: and you can go standing up or sitting down. Okay,

59
00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,400
Speaker 1: I mean you're gonna be virtually weightless anyway, and floating

60
00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:05,440
Speaker 1: it's gonna be awkward no matter how how you choose

61
00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:09,799
Speaker 1: to position yourself. Um. And then to prevent the astronaut

62
00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,320
Speaker 1: from from floating away to kind of strap them in, right, Yeah,

63
00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:16,760
Speaker 1: you basically have to strap yourself down. So their foot restraints. Um,

64
00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,320
Speaker 1: there's a toebar to slip slip the feet under, and

65
00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:22,640
Speaker 1: there's that even this five bar, there's a lot like

66
00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:25,720
Speaker 1: what you put on when you go in and climb

67
00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,040
Speaker 1: into a roller coaster, and it's gonna be the same

68
00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:30,760
Speaker 1: sort of upset stomach feeling, you know, on on board

69
00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:35,160
Speaker 1: the space station. So that that makes sense. Um. And

70
00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:38,320
Speaker 1: there's no water in the bowl of the toilet. Um,

71
00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:41,520
Speaker 1: It's it's all using air. So the air kind of

72
00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:43,520
Speaker 1: pulls the waist away. It acts like the water would

73
00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:45,480
Speaker 1: in a you know, an earthbound toilet. Um, and it

74
00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,000
Speaker 1: kind of pushes the waist away from the astronauts body

75
00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,600
Speaker 1: and you know flushes it essentially like a spinning blade

76
00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,480
Speaker 1: in the bottom of the of the of the bowl

77
00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:56,600
Speaker 1: and it uh, it like sucks everything down, slings it

78
00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,480
Speaker 1: against the sides and the Yeah, and then like little

79
00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:02,440
Speaker 1: holes in the side that like suck up the moisture.

80
00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:04,680
Speaker 1: Because that's a big thing, is to separate the moisture

81
00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,640
Speaker 1: from the solids. Yeah, because the moisture can be recycled

82
00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:10,640
Speaker 1: and of course you have to have some way to

83
00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,040
Speaker 1: filter the air, right right, yeah, yeah, and then you

84
00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:14,920
Speaker 1: have to filter filter out the air which can then

85
00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:18,599
Speaker 1: be breathed again um on the on the I S

86
00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:22,040
Speaker 1: s Liquid waste to recycle through special water treatment facility

87
00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:24,760
Speaker 1: and then turned back into drinking water which will go

88
00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:27,120
Speaker 1: into a little more later and solid waste goes into

89
00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:29,480
Speaker 1: a plastic bag. So as you can imagine, there have

90
00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:34,040
Speaker 1: been some pretty historic moments um between astronauts or cosmonauts

91
00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:35,640
Speaker 1: as the case may be. And it was kind of

92
00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,800
Speaker 1: a a long way getting to the modern super toilet

93
00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:42,919
Speaker 1: in space. Yeah. Yeah, we actually do have an article

94
00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:45,680
Speaker 1: top ten moments in space bathroom history should you care

95
00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:47,960
Speaker 1: to delve into the subject a little bit more. But

96
00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,359
Speaker 1: let's start off with one of the first memorable moments,

97
00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:53,640
Speaker 1: compliments of Allen B. Shepherd and his historic first manned

98
00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:57,240
Speaker 1: US space flight on May five. Yeah, and this is

99
00:04:57,320 --> 00:04:59,720
Speaker 1: I think the only entry, uh they were the only

100
00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:01,560
Speaker 1: is storical event they were going to discuss that has

101
00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:04,040
Speaker 1: been filmed, um that and it has been dramatized for

102
00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,080
Speaker 1: the big screen. This is featured in the right stuff.

103
00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:10,880
Speaker 1: Poor Alan, you know, he was supposed to go into

104
00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:14,520
Speaker 1: space for fifteen minutes, you know, not not not too long.

105
00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:16,680
Speaker 1: Maybe he could hold it if you know, he'd done

106
00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:18,920
Speaker 1: whatever he had done, or maybe drunk some coffee or

107
00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:22,679
Speaker 1: hydrated a little bit before he got on the flight.

108
00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:25,920
Speaker 1: But of course NASA, you know, if it's just delays

109
00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:30,279
Speaker 1: and there are some technical difficulties, some weather issues, and

110
00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:32,679
Speaker 1: so you know, Alan was sitting there for four hours,

111
00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:37,120
Speaker 1: that's a long time. And so he, uh, he threw

112
00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:41,640
Speaker 1: in the proverbial towel and he he told mission control, Hey, listen, guys,

113
00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:46,239
Speaker 1: I gotta go, and they said, no way. So Shepherd

114
00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,479
Speaker 1: had to had to go in a suit essentially, but

115
00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,800
Speaker 1: he didn't. Yeah, everything was okay. But yeah, it's like

116
00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:57,080
Speaker 1: that they hadn't quite planned that out exactly in aboard

117
00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:01,200
Speaker 1: the Space Shuttle Discovery. Um, this is really fascinating. Uh.

118
00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:05,800
Speaker 1: Here the the aircraft, a wastewater ent ventning system failed

119
00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:08,920
Speaker 1: and so it ended up you ended up having this

120
00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:12,080
Speaker 1: giant icicle made of urine began to form on the

121
00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,080
Speaker 1: outside of the shovel. Taking the sort of picture it

122
00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:18,159
Speaker 1: like this dagger of this yellow frozen dagger like sticking

123
00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,600
Speaker 1: out of the side of the of the of the ship,

124
00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,159
Speaker 1: and of course they couldn't leave it there, right, Yeah,

125
00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:28,719
Speaker 1: they realized that that they started into re entry, the

126
00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:32,240
Speaker 1: the icicle could detach, It could damage the heat tiles

127
00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:35,360
Speaker 1: and then put everybody in real jeopardy. So they had

128
00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,080
Speaker 1: to use their shuttle's robotic arm to reach out and

129
00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,200
Speaker 1: like attack the urine cicckle and break it off so

130
00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:43,520
Speaker 1: that they could re enter. It's like, I mean, this

131
00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,880
Speaker 1: is robots versus urine space urine. I mean, it's it.

132
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:52,240
Speaker 1: It doesn't get me anymore amazing than that. Yeah, the

133
00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:54,880
Speaker 1: robot one tiles were saved. The crew hadn't had no

134
00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:57,680
Speaker 1: trouble returning, but they had to shut down the urine

135
00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:00,799
Speaker 1: collection system for the rest of the trip just six days,

136
00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:03,920
Speaker 1: which brings me to my point. I mean, we're talking

137
00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:05,680
Speaker 1: about this, how long could you feasibly hold it? I mean,

138
00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:07,560
Speaker 1: you're not gonna be able to hold it for six days,

139
00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:09,920
Speaker 1: So maybe you just go back to more primitive methods

140
00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:12,920
Speaker 1: of collection. Yeah, you could. You could just try and

141
00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:15,120
Speaker 1: hold it as long as possible, I guess. Yeah, So

142
00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:17,360
Speaker 1: what does happen to you physiologically if you hold it?

143
00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:20,000
Speaker 1: We we looked into this because I was curious. You know,

144
00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:22,440
Speaker 1: it's not actually your bladder bursting so much, because your

145
00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:26,560
Speaker 1: bladder is this amazingly like tough muscular bag. It's really

146
00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:29,400
Speaker 1: more question of the flow kind of backing up and

147
00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,679
Speaker 1: going back into your kidneys and then having all sorts

148
00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:36,400
Speaker 1: of issues with disrupting your chemical balance. Supposedly that's how

149
00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,480
Speaker 1: Tycho Brahi died, the famed astronomer. Yeah, that's not that

150
00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:42,200
Speaker 1: on the straight dope. I don't buy it. Well, no,

151
00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:44,280
Speaker 1: there are two there are two different versions of this. Well,

152
00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:46,040
Speaker 1: there's also a really big theory that he may have

153
00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:48,960
Speaker 1: been poisoned by a rival. But the older story was

154
00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:51,560
Speaker 1: that he was setting at the at the banquet table

155
00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:53,080
Speaker 1: and he's having such a great time that he didn't

156
00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:55,280
Speaker 1: want to get up and relieve himself, so he just

157
00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:57,840
Speaker 1: he just held it and it ended up backing up

158
00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:00,440
Speaker 1: and killing him. So there you go, another space connection.

159
00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:03,920
Speaker 1: That doesn't sound like a pleasant way to go. So then,

160
00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:07,360
Speaker 1: of course you guys are familiar with the wearable toilet,

161
00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:11,240
Speaker 1: essentially the space diaper. Babies use a lot, right, Yeah,

162
00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:13,720
Speaker 1: I am familiar with the disposable kind, as I see

163
00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:16,840
Speaker 1: a lot of those these days. Um, having children two

164
00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:19,679
Speaker 1: young ones. Um actually one of whom is almost finished

165
00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:23,040
Speaker 1: potty training her, right, So yeah, going to the bathroom

166
00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:26,160
Speaker 1: becomes even more challenging when astronauts take a walk outside

167
00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:27,920
Speaker 1: the spacecraft. So what are they going to use? Then

168
00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:30,160
Speaker 1: they can't really, you know, just drop their space suit

169
00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:32,560
Speaker 1: or whatever, So they have to use one of these

170
00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:37,200
Speaker 1: super absorbent adult diapers. And these things are crazy, crazy absorbent.

171
00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:40,080
Speaker 1: They can hold a quart of liquid. And then of

172
00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,480
Speaker 1: course astronauts are going to use diapers on takeoff and

173
00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,760
Speaker 1: landing and um, you know, after the takeoff and landing

174
00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:48,319
Speaker 1: or the space walk, whatever it is that you have

175
00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,280
Speaker 1: to wear a diaper for, they just dispose them in

176
00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:53,160
Speaker 1: a storage area and you know, be done with it.

177
00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:56,679
Speaker 1: And as we learned in two thousand four with the

178
00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:00,600
Speaker 1: case of Lisa and No whack uh um, you can

179
00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:02,640
Speaker 1: also wear them if you have just a really long,

180
00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:06,640
Speaker 1: angry drive ahead of you to go confront a a

181
00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:12,000
Speaker 1: rival suitor. Right. Yeah. I believe Lisa's rival was Colleen Shipman,

182
00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:16,120
Speaker 1: and they were it was basically an astronaut love triangle here,

183
00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:19,800
Speaker 1: and she had some of these magnificent space diapers with

184
00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:23,080
Speaker 1: her and so yeah, she brought them along. I didn't

185
00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:25,520
Speaker 1: understand she didn't actually use them, but the idea was

186
00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:26,959
Speaker 1: that she brought them in case she just wanted to

187
00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:30,320
Speaker 1: keep driving. Yeah, Lisa was always prepared, it seems like.

188
00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:32,600
Speaker 1: And it seems that one of her diapers may have

189
00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:35,000
Speaker 1: ended up for auction on eBay with a starting bit

190
00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:39,079
Speaker 1: of about two. So I about that. But I'm not

191
00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:41,839
Speaker 1: quite done with this subject yet, because we also need

192
00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,839
Speaker 1: to tell you with the Japanese Airspace Exploration Agency has

193
00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:48,679
Speaker 1: a has been working on. So they've been working on

194
00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:51,640
Speaker 1: this toilet that's a lot like a high tech diaper. Well,

195
00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:54,480
Speaker 1: there you go. I mean that anytime there's some sort

196
00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:57,840
Speaker 1: of technology, the Japanese always come up with something more amazing. Well,

197
00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:01,160
Speaker 1: so this one's pretty ingenious. And if it goes through, um, basically,

198
00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:03,000
Speaker 1: if you're an astronaut, you will never have to take

199
00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:04,800
Speaker 1: a bathroom break. And that's pretty handy because you have

200
00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,600
Speaker 1: a lot of important stuff to do on uh these missions.

201
00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:13,439
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes like like literally your life hangs in

202
00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:17,120
Speaker 1: the balance and there's just no time right right, So

203
00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:19,200
Speaker 1: the Japanese have thought of this, and they they've come

204
00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,559
Speaker 1: up with this idea for a toilet that contains motion sensors,

205
00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:26,079
Speaker 1: and these sensors can detect when an astronaut is going

206
00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:30,080
Speaker 1: to the bathroom and trigger this automatic section unit that

207
00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:33,080
Speaker 1: can draw the waste away. Okay, here's the part that

208
00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:35,840
Speaker 1: I really love about this. So once you're done doing

209
00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:40,040
Speaker 1: your business, the machine washes and drives the wear and

210
00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:44,000
Speaker 1: and also, according to Jackson, you can go to the

211
00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,960
Speaker 1: bathroom in close quarters without any of your astronaut colleagues knowing. Yeah,

212
00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:50,959
Speaker 1: that's I don't buy that at all. I'm thinking you're

213
00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,280
Speaker 1: gonna know, like, how are you not gonna look like

214
00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:56,000
Speaker 1: you're soiling yourself while don't you listen to your fellow

215
00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:58,800
Speaker 1: astronauts conversation? I mean, unless you look like that all

216
00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:01,440
Speaker 1: the time, and then God help you must be a

217
00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:05,880
Speaker 1: miserable conversationalist. Anyway, it would be sort of an awkward conversation. Yeah,

218
00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:08,480
Speaker 1: but what do you think about the possibility for future

219
00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:11,000
Speaker 1: like infant diapers. Do you think they'll come a time

220
00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:13,920
Speaker 1: where you put on like one diaper a week, in

221
00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:15,959
Speaker 1: in in in a good way and not in a

222
00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,640
Speaker 1: neglecting parent kind of way. You know, just strap them on.

223
00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:21,760
Speaker 1: Diaper takes care of everything, and then you know, like

224
00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:23,800
Speaker 1: after a week right, all right, take care of the diaper.

225
00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:25,560
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how you would take care of sort

226
00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:28,600
Speaker 1: of some of the sanitary issues involved there the diaper

227
00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:32,280
Speaker 1: does it? Yeah, Japanese babies of the future are going

228
00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:35,480
Speaker 1: to be just completely self contained. So take us on

229
00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:38,360
Speaker 1: board the Apollo in some of the horrors there. Oh god, yeah,

230
00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:41,280
Speaker 1: now this is my my favorite. And again these are

231
00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:45,960
Speaker 1: these are your old school UM uh space bathroom facilities,

232
00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,960
Speaker 1: and they are our current UM backup plans. So if

233
00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:52,800
Speaker 1: the if the modern toilet fails, this is what they

234
00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:55,200
Speaker 1: may end up doing. Um. If you're gonna go number

235
00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:57,760
Speaker 1: two and then you're gonna have to use something that

236
00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:01,959
Speaker 1: looks that looks apparently a top hat, except it does

237
00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:05,160
Speaker 1: not go on your head. It basically you take this

238
00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:09,840
Speaker 1: to your backside. Yeah, and uh and then you you

239
00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:12,240
Speaker 1: poop in it. Um. But wait, where did you find

240
00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:13,839
Speaker 1: this out? By the way? Um, Well, there are a

241
00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:18,679
Speaker 1: couple of sources for this. UM. Andrew Chicken's description of

242
00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:20,880
Speaker 1: of this is in A Man on the Moon The

243
00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:25,679
Speaker 1: Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts, and then UH Aerospace education

244
00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:30,120
Speaker 1: specialist Gordon Eskridge also wrote about it. In two thousand nine.

245
00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:32,679
Speaker 1: Escot wrote about it in a little more detail that

246
00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:35,520
Speaker 1: we're gonna get to here. So if you want the

247
00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:38,560
Speaker 1: really down and dirty facts, then you need to see

248
00:12:38,679 --> 00:12:41,960
Speaker 1: seek out his h his essay Astronauts Trained for using

249
00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:45,880
Speaker 1: the Bathroom in Space. It's a very riveting read. Um.

250
00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,000
Speaker 1: But but yeah, basically, you you you tape this top

251
00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:53,559
Speaker 1: hat um to your rear, you do your business and

252
00:12:53,679 --> 00:12:58,320
Speaker 1: uh and then you have to need germicide into the contents. Yeah,

253
00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:01,640
Speaker 1: and then and you're gonna have to like everything is labeled,

254
00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:03,360
Speaker 1: so it's like in color coded, so you like you

255
00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:05,720
Speaker 1: you write down when you went, who you are, and

256
00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:07,920
Speaker 1: then later this goes back and they can NASA can

257
00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:11,360
Speaker 1: analyze it to see how you're digesting everything. Because it's

258
00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:13,520
Speaker 1: and it makes perfect sense. It's like if you're gonna

259
00:13:13,559 --> 00:13:15,800
Speaker 1: be forced to use the emergency toilet and you're gonna

260
00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:17,880
Speaker 1: have to bag it and bring it back home, you

261
00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:19,640
Speaker 1: might as well be able to and you can gain

262
00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:23,400
Speaker 1: a lot of important health information from looking at its tool.

263
00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:28,079
Speaker 1: That's that simple. However, according to Chicken one, Apollo seven

264
00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:32,559
Speaker 1: astronaut Um shared this bit of advice that you should

265
00:13:32,559 --> 00:13:35,360
Speaker 1: be prepared to quote get naked, allow an hour and

266
00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:37,720
Speaker 1: have plenty of tissues handy. So it does not sound

267
00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:40,640
Speaker 1: like a pleasant or deal at all. And that's just

268
00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:47,000
Speaker 1: going number two. Number one apparently involves hooking. It would

269
00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:49,920
Speaker 1: apparently involve on the Apollo flights, hooking yourself up to

270
00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:53,920
Speaker 1: this kind of tube, which for the men is an

271
00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,440
Speaker 1: adhesive condom that kind of empties to the outside of

272
00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:03,800
Speaker 1: the ship, which is also sounds potentially horrible, right section

273
00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:06,480
Speaker 1: could be a problem. Everybody can use your imagination on

274
00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:10,800
Speaker 1: that one. Um. So, yeah, Apollo, of the Apollo astronauts

275
00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:13,200
Speaker 1: really had to rough it. Uh, these guys don't know

276
00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:16,360
Speaker 1: how easy they have it, no doubt. Well, so the

277
00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:18,800
Speaker 1: bathrooms may have gotten better, but today there's a little

278
00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:22,920
Speaker 1: bit of infighting specifically among the Russians and the Americans.

279
00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:25,240
Speaker 1: And they're not fighting over the top hat. They're not

280
00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:27,840
Speaker 1: fighting over the top hat. Indeed, so leaving on the

281
00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:30,480
Speaker 1: International Space Station, you know, I mean things, people get

282
00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:33,360
Speaker 1: a little cranky. You know, you're in my space. Give

283
00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,840
Speaker 1: me some elbow rooms on the bathroom, Big Brother show, right,

284
00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:40,480
Speaker 1: except in space with people who should know better, right right?

285
00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:43,480
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, we're conducting this vaulted research and

286
00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:46,600
Speaker 1: these crazy missions and in one of the most extreme

287
00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,760
Speaker 1: and dangerous environments that we venture into, But it all

288
00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:52,360
Speaker 1: comes down to petty stuff like we gets to use

289
00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:55,920
Speaker 1: the bathroom. So in two thousand nine, cosmonaut Padalka, a

290
00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:59,520
Speaker 1: Russian gentleman, took that universal struggle to new Heights and

291
00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:03,200
Speaker 1: he told a Russian newspaper that the Americans weren't letting

292
00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:05,520
Speaker 1: him use the bathroom on their side of the space

293
00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:10,000
Speaker 1: station burn. Yeah. Yeah, So the Americans, as it turns out,

294
00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,480
Speaker 1: we're getting back at the Russians who had started finding

295
00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:16,760
Speaker 1: them for who had started finding NASA for resources used

296
00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:19,720
Speaker 1: by the US astronauts, and so this they had started

297
00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:22,000
Speaker 1: doing us back in two thousand three. So NASA had

298
00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:23,800
Speaker 1: enough and they're like, you know what you're gonna find us.

299
00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:25,960
Speaker 1: We're not gonna let you use the camp. And what

300
00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,360
Speaker 1: I love about this is that it's generally not the

301
00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,360
Speaker 1: the astronaut truly, it's it's I mean, this comes down

302
00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:34,960
Speaker 1: to Russia and the United States. Um, you know, haven't

303
00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:37,720
Speaker 1: been getting along all that wealth of late, so there's

304
00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:39,840
Speaker 1: been some tension and it just sort of spills over

305
00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,920
Speaker 1: into orbit and and and and to me, anyway, I

306
00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:45,960
Speaker 1: think it illuminates just how petty like it. It looks

307
00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:48,320
Speaker 1: pretty petty in orbit when it's like fights over food

308
00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:51,800
Speaker 1: or bathrooms, not sharing food and not sharing the bathroom. Um,

309
00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:54,440
Speaker 1: but it kind of illuminates just how petty any of

310
00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:57,160
Speaker 1: the conflict is. You know. Yeah, I got to imagine

311
00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:00,000
Speaker 1: that the astronauts of the cosmonauts in space aren't really

312
00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,880
Speaker 1: going to be arguing. I imagine they get along pretty well. Yeah,

313
00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:05,520
Speaker 1: I would hope, So maybe I'm an optimist. But back

314
00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:08,280
Speaker 1: on Earth, you know, in the States or in Russia,

315
00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,320
Speaker 1: it's some poor slabs job to to define these policies

316
00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:14,280
Speaker 1: about bathroom use and who may use what. It's crazy

317
00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,320
Speaker 1: and it's also some port slav's job. But you're on

318
00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,920
Speaker 1: Earth to um to get the budgets approved to pay

319
00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:24,040
Speaker 1: for all this stuff up there, of course. Um yeah,

320
00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,160
Speaker 1: how much are we talking? On two thousand eight, uh,

321
00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:30,480
Speaker 1: NASA announced plans to invest two hundred and fifty million

322
00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:33,440
Speaker 1: in a space toilet toilet, and um, I imagined that

323
00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:35,880
Speaker 1: went over well with the constituency. Yeah, because I mean

324
00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:39,680
Speaker 1: pays and the headline rights itself. It's like NASA, you know,

325
00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:43,400
Speaker 1: once to spend two fifty million on a on a toilet,

326
00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:45,840
Speaker 1: Well you know, blah blah blah. You know, it's just

327
00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:50,040
Speaker 1: it's it's ridiculous sounding. But um, the toilet in question

328
00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:54,880
Speaker 1: involved a water processor that filters urine and makes and

329
00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,760
Speaker 1: also takes sweat and moisture from hanging wet towels and

330
00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:00,840
Speaker 1: makes it all drinkable again and use. So it's not

331
00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:03,080
Speaker 1: just a you know, one guy uses the bathroom and

332
00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:05,679
Speaker 1: then we're out that water. Um, you'll be able to

333
00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,520
Speaker 1: recycle it and uh. And and it's not like it

334
00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:11,879
Speaker 1: would just have uses in space like this kind of technology,

335
00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:14,320
Speaker 1: you know, sort of like velcro. You know, we've developed

336
00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:15,840
Speaker 1: it for up there. We have a peace get down here,

337
00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:21,800
Speaker 1: work on a fancy water filtration system, the water filtration

338
00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:24,879
Speaker 1: system for orbit, and eventually we able to to U

339
00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:28,240
Speaker 1: to reap the fruits of that technology here on Earth. Yeah.

340
00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:30,880
Speaker 1: And they also said it had some serious conservation benefits,

341
00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:33,800
Speaker 1: to the tune of about seven tons of water yearly. Yeah.

342
00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,320
Speaker 1: And which is it sounds like a lot here, it's

343
00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:39,760
Speaker 1: even more up there because remember everything UM have, every

344
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:43,400
Speaker 1: resource in orbit has to be UM transported there at

345
00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:46,560
Speaker 1: great cost. Right, So my question for you is would

346
00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:52,199
Speaker 1: you drink the water totally? Yeah? Right, dune comes up

347
00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:57,440
Speaker 1: in a lot of podcasts. Have you seen it? Have

348
00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:00,639
Speaker 1: you seen it? You have not? Do you about seeing it?

349
00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,280
Speaker 1: In the last podcast, Robbert, we don't even need to

350
00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:05,200
Speaker 1: get there because I want to tell you about the

351
00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:10,400
Speaker 1: two thousand nine toilet breakdown. Okay, So what happens when

352
00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,520
Speaker 1: when you know your facilities break on Earth? You you

353
00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:16,800
Speaker 1: call the plumber, right, But what happens when a when

354
00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:19,359
Speaker 1: a commode goes on the fritz and space it's not

355
00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:22,960
Speaker 1: as easy. So back in July two thou nine, when

356
00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:26,120
Speaker 1: the toilets on the International Space Station broke when it's

357
00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:29,960
Speaker 1: a pump separator flooded. So it forced the six crew

358
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,560
Speaker 1: members and seven visiting astronauts from the Space Shuttle Endeavor

359
00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:36,840
Speaker 1: to share one one facility, one toilet on the on

360
00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:39,720
Speaker 1: the U S side, Or of course they could ask

361
00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:44,600
Speaker 1: permission to use the Russian facilities. Yeah, nobody wants to

362
00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:48,520
Speaker 1: do that, so at least the astronauts had other working

363
00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:51,680
Speaker 1: facilities available. A year earlier, the space station was equipped

364
00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:54,920
Speaker 1: with only one toilet, and when that one went and

365
00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:58,720
Speaker 1: was just bring out the top ats right, Well, they're

366
00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:00,840
Speaker 1: left crossing their fingers and their legs. I guess they're

367
00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:04,200
Speaker 1: able to form some emergency plumbing tricks and they got

368
00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:06,399
Speaker 1: it back up. Yeah, I have to say that. I

369
00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:09,040
Speaker 1: mean that's stressful. Yeah. I mean the stress of being

370
00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:10,680
Speaker 1: an astronaut and then the stress of not being able

371
00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:14,480
Speaker 1: to relieve yourself. Yeah, I mean just a toilet going

372
00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:16,760
Speaker 1: wrong on earth, like in your own house. I mean,

373
00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:21,240
Speaker 1: for me, that's just devastating and and and the little

374
00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:23,320
Speaker 1: maddening like it happen us one time. It wasn't our

375
00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:25,000
Speaker 1: fault at all. It was like some sort of sewage thing,

376
00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:27,040
Speaker 1: and it's like you're like a gurgling and I go

377
00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,240
Speaker 1: in and it's just like nightmare, you know, rising up

378
00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:33,600
Speaker 1: from the toilet and then overflowing. And I almost couldn't

379
00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:35,600
Speaker 1: handle it. So I can't imagine if there hadn't been

380
00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:41,000
Speaker 1: gravity Jesus. I remember this one a holiday we had

381
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,480
Speaker 1: my family down. It was one of the first years

382
00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:44,719
Speaker 1: we were living in Atlanta, and uh, my parents came

383
00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:47,240
Speaker 1: down and my brother came down, and we were all

384
00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:49,439
Speaker 1: sharing this one bathroom in this rental house we lived in.

385
00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:51,600
Speaker 1: And of course that's when the you know, that's when

386
00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:54,480
Speaker 1: the facilities go. And one of my family members, who

387
00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:58,720
Speaker 1: shall remove nameless yeah, you know, you it the thing

388
00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:01,640
Speaker 1: got backed up and you other way toilets. You know,

389
00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:03,439
Speaker 1: it was just it was you know, and there were

390
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:07,760
Speaker 1: all of our towels, towels. Was it was bad. Yeah. So,

391
00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:09,760
Speaker 1: I mean it's stressful on Earth, imagine when it's like

392
00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:15,119
Speaker 1: in space. Right. Um. One thing about urine in space, though, um,

393
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:19,560
Speaker 1: is that it's supposedly pretty beautiful. No way. Yeah. Some

394
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:22,800
Speaker 1: of the astronauts accounts have mentioned that that when when

395
00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:25,679
Speaker 1: urine has been ejected outside of a spaceship, that it

396
00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:29,160
Speaker 1: freezes instantly, and so you have all these little golden

397
00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,560
Speaker 1: ice crystals that just sort of drift off and they

398
00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:36,440
Speaker 1: catch the sunlight and glint. So it's it's supposed to

399
00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:42,000
Speaker 1: be uh, downright pretty, I believe it. So that's what

400
00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:45,119
Speaker 1: we got. There's a there's some some interesting facts about

401
00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:48,120
Speaker 1: going to the bathroom in space. Yeah, I'm all over

402
00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,840
Speaker 1: that the next time you have to hit the throne. So, yeah,

403
00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:53,520
Speaker 1: you can hit our blogs to find out what the

404
00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:56,760
Speaker 1: latest podcast topics are and uh find out about such

405
00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:59,200
Speaker 1: things as the Wonders of the double Sex Chicken. Yeah,

406
00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:00,800
Speaker 1: and if you guys want to send us an email

407
00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:04,000
Speaker 1: about space bathrooms or something related shoot us a note

408
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:13,359
Speaker 1: at science stuff at us to fricks dot com for

409
00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:15,840
Speaker 1: more on thiss and thousands of other topics. Is that

410
00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:19,280
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. Want more how stuff works,

411
00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:21,760
Speaker 1: check out our blogs on the house stuff works dot

412
00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:22,520
Speaker 1: com home page