Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: learn vogelbomb here. Some facts of life are universal, such
Speaker 1: as everybody really does poop. When astronauts are orbiting hundreds
Speaker 1: of miles above Earth's surface doing science, they still have
Speaker 1: to take bathroom breaks. Of course, the mechanics of using
Speaker 1: the toilet and disposing of the resulting waste in near
Speaker 1: zero gravity can get a little tricky. So today, let's
Speaker 1: take a trip down aerospace memory lane and learn about
Speaker 1: some of the moments that have given astronauts the greatest
Speaker 1: relief and aggravation over the years. America's historic first crude
Speaker 1: space flight, undertaken by Alan B. Shepherd Junior, on May
Speaker 1: fifth of nineteen sixty one, was only supposed to have
Speaker 1: lasted fifteen minutes, but after weather and technical difficulties delayed
Speaker 1: the flight for four hours, nature fitably called. With no
Speaker 1: other option available, Shepherd was forced to urinate frighten his suit.
Speaker 1: Since then, diaper type wearables modernly called maximum absorbency garments
Speaker 1: have been used on many space missions, but once those
Speaker 1: missions became longer, engineers had to equip spacecraft with real facilities.
Speaker 1: NASA's Apollo program landed the first humans on the Moon,
Speaker 1: but its missions had at least one serious design flaw
Speaker 1: in its bathrooms. Urine collection was accomplished by placing a
Speaker 1: condom like outfit over the astronaut's genitalia. The fitting attached
Speaker 1: to a hose that released urine out of the side
Speaker 1: of the spacecraft. The device was decidedly low tech and
Speaker 1: could be downright painful. If the astronauts opened the valve
Speaker 1: too soon before starting to urinate, the section would pull
Speaker 1: their genitalia right into the hopes. Once the astronauts began
Speaker 1: to urinate, the fitting would sometimes pop off, releasing a
Speaker 1: spray of urine into the spacecraft. Considering the effects of
Speaker 1: near zero gravity, it was a less than pleasant experience
Speaker 1: for all on board, and defecation was even more work.
Speaker 1: Astronauts had to tape a bag to their rear end.
Speaker 1: Once they were finished, they had to open a capsule
Speaker 1: of blue germicide in the bag and then mush everything together.
Speaker 1: Crew Members on the Apollo seven mission wrote of the experience,
Speaker 1: get naked, allow an hour, have plenty of tissues ready.
Speaker 1: The bags were usually taken back to Earth for study. Later,
Speaker 1: space toilets came equipped with a lap belt, handholds, and
Speaker 1: foot restraints to ensure that astronauts didn't float away mid stream.
Speaker 1: A fan pulled urine feces into their respective collection containers.
Speaker 1: A filter removed any unpleasant odors, hopefully before the air
Speaker 1: was returned to the cabin. Of course, spacecraft only have
Speaker 1: a limited amount of room aboard, so astronauts regularly had
Speaker 1: to lighten their load by releasing those collected waste products.
Speaker 1: When urine is released out into space, it instantly freezes
Speaker 1: into a cloud of ice crystals. The sight of the
Speaker 1: sun hitting those droplets and transforming them into water vapor
Speaker 1: is quite astounding, according to some observers. Apollo nine astronaut
Speaker 1: Russell Schweickert once said the most beautiful sight in orbit
Speaker 1: is a urine dump. At sunset, it instantly flashes into
Speaker 1: ten million little ice crystals, which go out almost in
Speaker 1: a hemisphere, a spray of sparklers. Almost. It isn't always
Speaker 1: a semi celestial event, though. During a nineteen eighty four
Speaker 1: mission on the Space Shuttle Discovery, the aircraft's wastewater venting
Speaker 1: system failed, leading to the formation of a very large
Speaker 1: icicle made of urine on the outside of the shuttle.
Speaker 1: Realizing that the urine sickle might break free during re
Speaker 1: entry and damage the protective heat tiles on the shuttle,
Speaker 1: the crew used the shuttle's robot arm to break it off.
Speaker 1: The tiles were saved, but the crew had no choice
Speaker 1: but to shut the urine collection system down. The crisis
Speaker 1: was averted, but the problem left the crew without a
Speaker 1: working toilet for the rest of the six day mission,
Speaker 1: and even when the facilities are in working order, politics
Speaker 1: have come into play. In two thousand and nine, Russian
Speaker 1: cospnot Gnaldi Padalka complained to a newspaper that he wasn't
Speaker 1: allowed to use the bathroom on the American side of
Speaker 1: the International Space Station, but he wasn't blaming the Americans.
Speaker 1: He cited the cause of the closed door policy as
Speaker 1: Russia's moved to start charging NASA for resources used by
Speaker 1: American astronauts back in two thousand and three. The United
Speaker 1: States reciprocated by asking the Russians to keep out of
Speaker 1: its facilities. Padelka told the newspaper that the bathroom shut
Speaker 1: out and banashment from American exercise bikes was having a
Speaker 1: real effect on his cosmonauts morale. From what I understand.
Speaker 1: A new more female friendly toilet sent up in twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: is available to all, though visitors from one side to
Speaker 1: the other might still do the space equivalent of a
Speaker 1: neighborly knock first. This also applies when a toilet on
Speaker 1: one side or the other goes on the fritz. Fixing
Speaker 1: them on the fly literally isn't as easy as calling
Speaker 1: a plumber back on Earth. Though new models are being
Speaker 1: made with three D printed parts to make repairs a
Speaker 1: bit more plug and play, these facilities are expensive to
Speaker 1: develop and install. The most involved upgrade to NASA space toilets,
Speaker 1: first announced in two thousand and eight, was an investment
Speaker 1: of around two hundred and fifty million dollars. Its fanciest feature,
Speaker 1: it turns urine into drinking water. This pricey water processor
Speaker 1: not only filters water from urine, but also makes sweat
Speaker 1: and moisture from hanging wet towels pottable. NASA officials say
Speaker 1: that the converted water is cleaner than the tap water
Speaker 1: in the US, which might say more about our infrastructure
Speaker 1: than our urine, and that the device conserves seven tons
Speaker 1: of water each year. In contrast, the new UNISEX toilet
Speaker 1: cost Amere twenty three million. It's forty percent lighter, sixty
Speaker 1: five percent smaller, and much more energy efficient. A NASA astronaut,
Speaker 1: Jessica Meir said in a press release. We recycle about
Speaker 1: ninety percent of all water based liquids on the space station,
Speaker 1: including urinin sweat. What we try to do aboard the
Speaker 1: space station is mimic elements of Earth's natural water cycle
Speaker 1: to reclaim water from the air and when it comes
Speaker 1: to our urine on ISS, Today's coffee is tomorrow's coffee.
Speaker 1: Recycling will be the key to future missions that send
Speaker 1: humans deeper into space for longer amounts of time, as
Speaker 1: there will often be no other water sources available. Today's
Speaker 1: episode is based on the article top ten Moments in
Speaker 1: Space bathroom History on HowStuffWorks dot com, written by Stephanie Watson.
Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how
Speaker 1: Stuffworks dot Com, and it is produced by Tyler Klang.
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