WEBVTT - Toilets in Space 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.760 Welcome to Stuff from the Science Lab from how stuff 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:16.360 works dot com. Hey guys, welcome to the podcast. This 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:18.119 is Alison, I don't know, like, the science editor at 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:20.640 how stuff works dot com. This is Robert Lamb, science 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:23.160 writer at how stuff works dot com. And this week 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:30.080 we're talking about toilets in space. Yes, indeed, we thought 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:34.240 we'd preface the podcast by opening up with some frightening 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.880 bathroom stories of our own. Um yeah, well this one's 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:44.200 I'm generally pretty um horrified by porta potties anyway, yes, understandably, 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.360 And uh I found myself at the Cachella Music Festival 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:49.760 a few years back, oh, yes, which which is a 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.440 great music festival. And to their credit, they didn't just 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:56.960 have your normal stinky um port of John's there. They 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:58.760 also had this deal that was on the back of 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:01.080 a truck that they they brought in and it was 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:03.920 like basically like a full restaurant bathroom. I mean, it's 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.240 still heavily trafficked and was, you know, kind of yucky, 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:09.720 but it wasn't as yucky as the other bathroom. So 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:11.880 I'm like, all right, I need a you know, use 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:13.560 the restroom real quick. I'm gonna go on there and 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:15.360 then try not to use the restroom for the rest 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:18.319 of the weekend, which generally my my plan when it 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.080 comes to outdoor events. So I get on board, right, 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:24.640 I go inside. I'm taking here of my business and 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:26.920 and then suddenly I'm the only one in there, and 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.319 do the trucks start moving? It didn't start moving, but 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.040 I heard like an engine roaring, and some guy like 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:35.160 opened the door and he's like, is everybody out? And 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:38.720 I'm like, no, don't leave with me on board, because 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:40.959 then I wouldn't get to enjoy the music festival and 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:45.880 I would be dumped in a landfill somewhere something. So 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:48.480 that was a close call. Brobert, I'm glad you saved 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:50.720 that one for the podcast because that's that's the truly 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:54.040 amazing story. Um yeah, I think on my part, I 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:58.320 occasionally like to run races, and um so before the 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:00.360 start of a marathon or a half maraw fun or 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:02.720 a ten k whatever, what are you gonna want to do? 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:04.360 You're you're not gonna want to you know, go while 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:06.480 you're running that like those crazy marathon runners. I mean, 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:10.239 I'm just people go on they're running, Yes, absolutely, haven't 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:13.200 ever seen them like the marathon, the serious ones do. 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:15.079 I I don't know about number two, but there was 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:17.399 that one woman. Anyway, we don't need to get into 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:21.880 that because it's a podcast about space. Toilet. Um. But yeah, 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.520 some of my more frightening bathroom moments have occurred at 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:27.160 the Porta John's before before racist. But I would like 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:28.600 to point out, as you did, that some of them 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:30.440 are nice. We had Portay John's at our wedding and 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.160 they're very cleanly cool, I would hope, I mean, especially 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:35.120 if they're new. That's the thing. Once one of Porta 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:37.480 John's new, that's when to go. And I have that 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:41.040 lovely air freshener scent. Yeah, so let's talk about going 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.000 in space. Yeah, if you're going to go up to 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.120 the International Space Station right now and use the restroom, 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.160 you'd find a unisex facility and there's a they have 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.760 a funnel that fits over the genital region for both 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:55.000 men and women. There's like a separate attachment for each 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:58.840 and you can go standing up or sitting down. Okay, 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.400 I mean you're gonna be virtually weightless anyway, and floating 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.440 it's gonna be awkward no matter how how you choose 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:09.799 to position yourself. Um. And then to prevent the astronaut 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:13.320 from from floating away to kind of strap them in, right, Yeah, 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.760 you basically have to strap yourself down. So their foot restraints. Um, 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:20.320 there's a toebar to slip slip the feet under, and 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:22.640 there's that even this five bar, there's a lot like 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:25.720 what you put on when you go in and climb 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.040 into a roller coaster, and it's gonna be the same 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:30.760 sort of upset stomach feeling, you know, on on board 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:35.160 the space station. So that that makes sense. Um. And 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:38.320 there's no water in the bowl of the toilet. Um, 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.520 It's it's all using air. So the air kind of 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:43.520 pulls the waist away. It acts like the water would 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:45.480 in a you know, an earthbound toilet. Um, and it 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:48.000 kind of pushes the waist away from the astronauts body 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:50.600 and you know flushes it essentially like a spinning blade 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:53.480 in the bottom of the of the of the bowl 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:56.600 and it uh, it like sucks everything down, slings it 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.480 against the sides and the Yeah, and then like little 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:02.440 holes in the side that like suck up the moisture. 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:04.680 Because that's a big thing, is to separate the moisture 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:08.640 from the solids. Yeah, because the moisture can be recycled 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:10.640 and of course you have to have some way to 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:13.040 filter the air, right right, yeah, yeah, and then you 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:14.920 have to filter filter out the air which can then 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.599 be breathed again um on the on the I S 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:22.040 s Liquid waste to recycle through special water treatment facility 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:24.760 and then turned back into drinking water which will go 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:27.120 into a little more later and solid waste goes into 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.480 a plastic bag. So as you can imagine, there have 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:34.040 been some pretty historic moments um between astronauts or cosmonauts 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:35.640 as the case may be. And it was kind of 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:39.800 a a long way getting to the modern super toilet 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.919 in space. Yeah. Yeah, we actually do have an article 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:45.680 top ten moments in space bathroom history should you care 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:47.960 to delve into the subject a little bit more. But 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:50.359 let's start off with one of the first memorable moments, 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.640 compliments of Allen B. Shepherd and his historic first manned 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:57.240 US space flight on May five. Yeah, and this is 0:04:57.320 --> 0:04:59.720 I think the only entry, uh they were the only 0:04:59.880 --> 0:05:01.560 is storical event they were going to discuss that has 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:04.040 been filmed, um that and it has been dramatized for 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.080 the big screen. This is featured in the right stuff. 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:10.880 Poor Alan, you know, he was supposed to go into 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:14.520 space for fifteen minutes, you know, not not not too long. 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:16.680 Maybe he could hold it if you know, he'd done 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:18.920 whatever he had done, or maybe drunk some coffee or 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:22.679 hydrated a little bit before he got on the flight. 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:25.920 But of course NASA, you know, if it's just delays 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:30.279 and there are some technical difficulties, some weather issues, and 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:32.679 so you know, Alan was sitting there for four hours, 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:37.120 that's a long time. And so he, uh, he threw 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:41.640 in the proverbial towel and he he told mission control, Hey, listen, guys, 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:46.239 I gotta go, and they said, no way. So Shepherd 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:48.479 had to had to go in a suit essentially, but 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.800 he didn't. Yeah, everything was okay. But yeah, it's like 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:57.080 that they hadn't quite planned that out exactly in aboard 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:01.200 the Space Shuttle Discovery. Um, this is really fascinating. Uh. 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.800 Here the the aircraft, a wastewater ent ventning system failed 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:08.920 and so it ended up you ended up having this 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:12.080 giant icicle made of urine began to form on the 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:14.080 outside of the shovel. Taking the sort of picture it 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:18.159 like this dagger of this yellow frozen dagger like sticking 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:20.600 out of the side of the of the of the ship, 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.159 and of course they couldn't leave it there, right, Yeah, 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:28.719 they realized that that they started into re entry, the 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:32.240 the icicle could detach, It could damage the heat tiles 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.360 and then put everybody in real jeopardy. So they had 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.080 to use their shuttle's robotic arm to reach out and 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.200 like attack the urine cicckle and break it off so 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:43.520 that they could re enter. It's like, I mean, this 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:47.880 is robots versus urine space urine. I mean, it's it. 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:52.240 It doesn't get me anymore amazing than that. Yeah, the 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:54.880 robot one tiles were saved. The crew hadn't had no 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:57.680 trouble returning, but they had to shut down the urine 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:00.799 collection system for the rest of the trip just six days, 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:03.920 which brings me to my point. I mean, we're talking 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:05.680 about this, how long could you feasibly hold it? I mean, 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:07.560 you're not gonna be able to hold it for six days, 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:09.920 So maybe you just go back to more primitive methods 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:12.920 of collection. Yeah, you could. You could just try and 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:15.120 hold it as long as possible, I guess. Yeah, So 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:17.360 what does happen to you physiologically if you hold it? 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.000 We we looked into this because I was curious. You know, 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:22.440 it's not actually your bladder bursting so much, because your 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:26.560 bladder is this amazingly like tough muscular bag. It's really 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:29.400 more question of the flow kind of backing up and 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.679 going back into your kidneys and then having all sorts 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:36.400 of issues with disrupting your chemical balance. Supposedly that's how 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:40.480 Tycho Brahi died, the famed astronomer. Yeah, that's not that 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:42.200 on the straight dope. I don't buy it. Well, no, 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:44.280 there are two there are two different versions of this. Well, 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:46.040 there's also a really big theory that he may have 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:48.960 been poisoned by a rival. But the older story was 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:51.560 that he was setting at the at the banquet table 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:53.080 and he's having such a great time that he didn't 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:55.280 want to get up and relieve himself, so he just 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:57.840 he just held it and it ended up backing up 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.440 and killing him. So there you go, another space connection. 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.920 That doesn't sound like a pleasant way to go. So then, 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:07.360 of course you guys are familiar with the wearable toilet, 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:11.240 essentially the space diaper. Babies use a lot, right, Yeah, 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:13.720 I am familiar with the disposable kind, as I see 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:16.840 a lot of those these days. Um, having children two 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.679 young ones. Um actually one of whom is almost finished 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:23.040 potty training her, right, So yeah, going to the bathroom 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:26.160 becomes even more challenging when astronauts take a walk outside 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:27.920 the spacecraft. So what are they going to use? Then 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.160 they can't really, you know, just drop their space suit 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:32.560 or whatever, So they have to use one of these 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:37.200 super absorbent adult diapers. And these things are crazy, crazy absorbent. 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.080 They can hold a quart of liquid. And then of 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:42.480 course astronauts are going to use diapers on takeoff and 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:46.760 landing and um, you know, after the takeoff and landing 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:48.319 or the space walk, whatever it is that you have 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.280 to wear a diaper for, they just dispose them in 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:53.160 a storage area and you know, be done with it. 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.679 And as we learned in two thousand four with the 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:00.600 case of Lisa and No whack uh um, you can 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:02.640 also wear them if you have just a really long, 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:06.640 angry drive ahead of you to go confront a a 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:12.000 rival suitor. Right. Yeah. I believe Lisa's rival was Colleen Shipman, 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.120 and they were it was basically an astronaut love triangle here, 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.800 and she had some of these magnificent space diapers with 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:23.080 her and so yeah, she brought them along. I didn't 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.520 understand she didn't actually use them, but the idea was 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:26.959 that she brought them in case she just wanted to 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:30.320 keep driving. Yeah, Lisa was always prepared, it seems like. 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:32.600 And it seems that one of her diapers may have 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.000 ended up for auction on eBay with a starting bit 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:39.079 of about two. So I about that. But I'm not 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:41.839 quite done with this subject yet, because we also need 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:45.839 to tell you with the Japanese Airspace Exploration Agency has 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:48.679 a has been working on. So they've been working on 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.640 this toilet that's a lot like a high tech diaper. Well, 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:54.480 there you go. I mean that anytime there's some sort 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.840 of technology, the Japanese always come up with something more amazing. Well, 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:01.160 so this one's pretty ingenious. And if it goes through, um, basically, 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.000 if you're an astronaut, you will never have to take 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:04.800 a bathroom break. And that's pretty handy because you have 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.600 a lot of important stuff to do on uh these missions. 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:13.439 You know, sometimes like like literally your life hangs in 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:17.120 the balance and there's just no time right right, So 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:19.200 the Japanese have thought of this, and they they've come 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:22.559 up with this idea for a toilet that contains motion sensors, 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:26.079 and these sensors can detect when an astronaut is going 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:30.080 to the bathroom and trigger this automatic section unit that 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:33.080 can draw the waste away. Okay, here's the part that 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.840 I really love about this. So once you're done doing 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:40.040 your business, the machine washes and drives the wear and 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:44.000 and also, according to Jackson, you can go to the 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:47.960 bathroom in close quarters without any of your astronaut colleagues knowing. Yeah, 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:50.959 that's I don't buy that at all. I'm thinking you're 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.280 gonna know, like, how are you not gonna look like 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:56.000 you're soiling yourself while don't you listen to your fellow 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:58.800 astronauts conversation? I mean, unless you look like that all 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:01.440 the time, and then God help you must be a 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.880 miserable conversationalist. Anyway, it would be sort of an awkward conversation. Yeah, 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:08.480 but what do you think about the possibility for future 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:11.000 like infant diapers. Do you think they'll come a time 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:13.920 where you put on like one diaper a week, in 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:15.959 in in in a good way and not in a 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:19.640 neglecting parent kind of way. You know, just strap them on. 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:21.760 Diaper takes care of everything, and then you know, like 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:23.800 after a week right, all right, take care of the diaper. 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:25.560 I'm not sure how you would take care of sort 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.600 of some of the sanitary issues involved there the diaper 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:32.280 does it? Yeah, Japanese babies of the future are going 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:35.480 to be just completely self contained. So take us on 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.360 board the Apollo in some of the horrors there. Oh god, yeah, 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.280 now this is my my favorite. And again these are 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:45.960 these are your old school UM uh space bathroom facilities, 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:49.960 and they are our current UM backup plans. So if 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:52.800 the if the modern toilet fails, this is what they 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.200 may end up doing. Um. If you're gonna go number 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:57.760 two and then you're gonna have to use something that 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.959 looks that looks apparently a top hat, except it does 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:05.160 not go on your head. It basically you take this 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:09.840 to your backside. Yeah, and uh and then you you 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:12.240 poop in it. Um. But wait, where did you find 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:13.839 this out? By the way? Um, Well, there are a 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:18.679 couple of sources for this. UM. Andrew Chicken's description of 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.880 of this is in A Man on the Moon The 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:25.679 Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts, and then UH Aerospace education 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:30.120 specialist Gordon Eskridge also wrote about it. In two thousand nine. 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:32.679 Escot wrote about it in a little more detail that 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.520 we're gonna get to here. So if you want the 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.560 really down and dirty facts, then you need to see 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.960 seek out his h his essay Astronauts Trained for using 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:45.880 the Bathroom in Space. It's a very riveting read. Um. 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:50.000 But but yeah, basically, you you you tape this top 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.559 hat um to your rear, you do your business and 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:58.320 uh and then you have to need germicide into the contents. Yeah, 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.640 and then and you're gonna have to like everything is labeled, 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:03.360 so it's like in color coded, so you like you 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:05.720 you write down when you went, who you are, and 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:07.920 then later this goes back and they can NASA can 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:11.360 analyze it to see how you're digesting everything. Because it's 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:13.520 and it makes perfect sense. It's like if you're gonna 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:15.800 be forced to use the emergency toilet and you're gonna 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:17.880 have to bag it and bring it back home, you 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:19.640 might as well be able to and you can gain 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:23.400 a lot of important health information from looking at its tool. 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:28.079 That's that simple. However, according to Chicken one, Apollo seven 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:32.559 astronaut Um shared this bit of advice that you should 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:35.360 be prepared to quote get naked, allow an hour and 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:37.720 have plenty of tissues handy. So it does not sound 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:40.640 like a pleasant or deal at all. And that's just 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:47.000 going number two. Number one apparently involves hooking. It would 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:49.920 apparently involve on the Apollo flights, hooking yourself up to 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:53.920 this kind of tube, which for the men is an 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:57.440 adhesive condom that kind of empties to the outside of 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:03.800 the ship, which is also sounds potentially horrible, right section 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:06.480 could be a problem. Everybody can use your imagination on 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.800 that one. Um. So, yeah, Apollo, of the Apollo astronauts 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:13.200 really had to rough it. Uh, these guys don't know 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.360 how easy they have it, no doubt. Well, so the 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:18.800 bathrooms may have gotten better, but today there's a little 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:22.920 bit of infighting specifically among the Russians and the Americans. 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.240 And they're not fighting over the top hat. They're not 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:27.840 fighting over the top hat. Indeed, so leaving on the 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.480 International Space Station, you know, I mean things, people get 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.360 a little cranky. You know, you're in my space. Give 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:36.840 me some elbow rooms on the bathroom, Big Brother show, right, 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:40.480 except in space with people who should know better, right right? 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:43.480 I mean, you know, we're conducting this vaulted research and 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.600 these crazy missions and in one of the most extreme 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:50.760 and dangerous environments that we venture into, But it all 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:52.360 comes down to petty stuff like we gets to use 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:55.920 the bathroom. So in two thousand nine, cosmonaut Padalka, a 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.520 Russian gentleman, took that universal struggle to new Heights and 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:03.200 he told a Russian newspaper that the Americans weren't letting 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:05.520 him use the bathroom on their side of the space 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:10.000 station burn. Yeah. Yeah, So the Americans, as it turns out, 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:13.480 we're getting back at the Russians who had started finding 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.760 them for who had started finding NASA for resources used 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:19.720 by the US astronauts, and so this they had started 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:22.000 doing us back in two thousand three. So NASA had 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:23.800 enough and they're like, you know what you're gonna find us. 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:25.960 We're not gonna let you use the camp. And what 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:28.360 I love about this is that it's generally not the 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.360 the astronaut truly, it's it's I mean, this comes down 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.960 to Russia and the United States. Um, you know, haven't 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.720 been getting along all that wealth of late, so there's 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:39.840 been some tension and it just sort of spills over 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:43.920 into orbit and and and and to me, anyway, I 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:45.960 think it illuminates just how petty like it. It looks 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:48.320 pretty petty in orbit when it's like fights over food 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.800 or bathrooms, not sharing food and not sharing the bathroom. Um, 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:54.440 but it kind of illuminates just how petty any of 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.160 the conflict is. You know. Yeah, I got to imagine 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:00.000 that the astronauts of the cosmonauts in space aren't really 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.880 going to be arguing. I imagine they get along pretty well. Yeah, 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:05.520 I would hope, So maybe I'm an optimist. But back 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:08.280 on Earth, you know, in the States or in Russia, 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.320 it's some poor slabs job to to define these policies 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.280 about bathroom use and who may use what. It's crazy 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.320 and it's also some port slav's job. But you're on 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.920 Earth to um to get the budgets approved to pay 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:24.040 for all this stuff up there, of course. Um yeah, 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:27.160 how much are we talking? On two thousand eight, uh, 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:30.480 NASA announced plans to invest two hundred and fifty million 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:33.440 in a space toilet toilet, and um, I imagined that 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:35.880 went over well with the constituency. Yeah, because I mean 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:39.680 pays and the headline rights itself. It's like NASA, you know, 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:43.400 once to spend two fifty million on a on a toilet, 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:45.840 Well you know, blah blah blah. You know, it's just 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:50.040 it's it's ridiculous sounding. But um, the toilet in question 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.880 involved a water processor that filters urine and makes and 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.760 also takes sweat and moisture from hanging wet towels and 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:00.840 makes it all drinkable again and use. So it's not 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.080 just a you know, one guy uses the bathroom and 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.679 then we're out that water. Um, you'll be able to 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.520 recycle it and uh. And and it's not like it 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:11.879 would just have uses in space like this kind of technology, 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:14.320 you know, sort of like velcro. You know, we've developed 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:15.840 it for up there. We have a peace get down here, 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:21.800 work on a fancy water filtration system, the water filtration 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:24.879 system for orbit, and eventually we able to to U 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.240 to reap the fruits of that technology here on Earth. Yeah. 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:30.880 And they also said it had some serious conservation benefits, 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:33.800 to the tune of about seven tons of water yearly. Yeah. 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.320 And which is it sounds like a lot here, it's 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:39.760 even more up there because remember everything UM have, every 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:43.400 resource in orbit has to be UM transported there at 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.560 great cost. Right, So my question for you is would 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:52.199 you drink the water totally? Yeah? Right, dune comes up 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:57.440 in a lot of podcasts. Have you seen it? Have 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.639 you seen it? You have not? Do you about seeing it? 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.280 In the last podcast, Robbert, we don't even need to 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:05.200 get there because I want to tell you about the 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:10.400 two thousand nine toilet breakdown. Okay, So what happens when 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:13.520 when you know your facilities break on Earth? You you 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.800 call the plumber, right, But what happens when a when 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.359 a commode goes on the fritz and space it's not 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:22.960 as easy. So back in July two thou nine, when 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:26.120 the toilets on the International Space Station broke when it's 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:29.960 a pump separator flooded. So it forced the six crew 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:33.560 members and seven visiting astronauts from the Space Shuttle Endeavor 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:36.840 to share one one facility, one toilet on the on 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:39.720 the U S side, Or of course they could ask 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:44.600 permission to use the Russian facilities. Yeah, nobody wants to 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:48.520 do that, so at least the astronauts had other working 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:51.680 facilities available. A year earlier, the space station was equipped 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.920 with only one toilet, and when that one went and 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.720 was just bring out the top ats right, Well, they're 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:00.840 left crossing their fingers and their legs. I guess they're 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:04.200 able to form some emergency plumbing tricks and they got 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:06.399 it back up. Yeah, I have to say that. I 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.040 mean that's stressful. Yeah. I mean the stress of being 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:10.680 an astronaut and then the stress of not being able 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:14.480 to relieve yourself. Yeah, I mean just a toilet going 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:16.760 wrong on earth, like in your own house. I mean, 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:21.240 for me, that's just devastating and and and the little 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:23.320 maddening like it happen us one time. It wasn't our 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:25.000 fault at all. It was like some sort of sewage thing, 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:27.040 and it's like you're like a gurgling and I go 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:30.240 in and it's just like nightmare, you know, rising up 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:33.600 from the toilet and then overflowing. And I almost couldn't 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:35.600 handle it. So I can't imagine if there hadn't been 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:41.000 gravity Jesus. I remember this one a holiday we had 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:42.480 my family down. It was one of the first years 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:44.719 we were living in Atlanta, and uh, my parents came 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:47.240 down and my brother came down, and we were all 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:49.439 sharing this one bathroom in this rental house we lived in. 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:51.600 And of course that's when the you know, that's when 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:54.480 the facilities go. And one of my family members, who 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:58.720 shall remove nameless yeah, you know, you it the thing 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:01.640 got backed up and you other way toilets. You know, 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:03.439 it was just it was you know, and there were 0:20:03.480 --> 0:20:07.760 all of our towels, towels. Was it was bad. Yeah. So, 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:09.760 I mean it's stressful on Earth, imagine when it's like 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:15.119 in space. Right. Um. One thing about urine in space, though, um, 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:19.560 is that it's supposedly pretty beautiful. No way. Yeah. Some 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:22.800 of the astronauts accounts have mentioned that that when when 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:25.679 urine has been ejected outside of a spaceship, that it 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:29.160 freezes instantly, and so you have all these little golden 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:32.560 ice crystals that just sort of drift off and they 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:36.440 catch the sunlight and glint. So it's it's supposed to 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:42.000 be uh, downright pretty, I believe it. So that's what 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:45.119 we got. There's a there's some some interesting facts about 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:48.120