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Space

Space Station Toilets Poop Out 207

Posted by CmdrTaco from the so-many-jokes dept.
otter42 writes "The International Space Station's toilet has gone kaput. It seems that the system for separating solid and liquid waste has developed a fault. 'Solids' go where they're supposed to, but 'liquids' don't. The astronauts have bypassed the '"the troublesome hardware" for urine collection with a "special receptacle."' Something tells me they're glad the failure wasn't the other way around." Update: 05/28 21:54 GMT by T : According to a post on Engadget, the toilet's now been repaired.
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Space Station Toilets Poop Out More

Space Station Toilets Poop Out

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  • In Soviet Russua . . . . (Score:5, Funny)

    by Eg0Death ( 1282452 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @07:54AM (#23569285)
    . . . Space Station poops on you!

  • No prizes for guessing .... (Score:5, Funny)

    by 140Mandak262Jamuna ( 970587 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @07:54AM (#23569287) Journal
    ... what hit the fan. From the article:

    A NASA status report noted that last week, while using the toilet system in the Russian-built service module, âoethe crew heard a loud noise and the fan stopped working.â The solid waste collector is functioning properly, but the system for collecting liquid waste was not.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Hatta ( 162192 )
      Speaking of space toilet malfunctions, I remember hearing about one mission in which the fan was mounted backwards, with predictable consequences. I'm pretty sure I heard this from an astronaut, when I was at space camp oh 15 years ago, but I don't know for sure if it's a real story. Does anyone know if this is true?

  • Their mission... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Bazman ( 4849 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @07:56AM (#23569301) Journal
    ...to boldly go where no man has gone before.

    Any jokes about the Captain's Log will be flushed out by the moderation system...

  • This space station is a piece of shit. And that pisses me off.

  • time to innovate (Score:5, Funny)

    by Gothmolly ( 148874 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @07:57AM (#23569309)
    Can't they just piss out the window ?

    $.02 says the 'special receptacle' is a Nalgene bottle

    • Re:time to innovate (Score:5, Funny)

      by Ihlosi ( 895663 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:01AM (#23569345)
      Can't they just piss out the window ?



      Regardless of what happens to a part of the human body that is exposed to a hard vaccum (explodes spectacularly as seen in Hollywood movies vs. just becoming freeze-dried really quickly), and attempts at this are a sure way to earn a Darwin award.

      • Re:time to innovate (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @09:05AM (#23570073)
        Well, no. You neither freeze quickly nor explode.

        A human passes out in around 13 seconds when the air is drawn out of the lungs by the vacuum - and then dies in about five to ten minutes - due to - tada - lack of oxygen.

        And hard vacuum is a very, very poor conductor, therefore there won't be any freezing anytime soon either. Sure, you grow cold, but that'll be over hours, not over seconds.

        All of this is well documented by NASA, too.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Ihlosi ( 895663 )
          And hard vacuum is a very, very poor conductor, therefore there won't be any freezing anytime soon either.

          Water evaporates at very, very low temperatures in a hard vacuum, and there's plenty of water in a human that can evaporate. Evaporation requires energy, so the temperature of the rest of the body will drop.

      • Can't they just piss out the window ?

        Regardless of what happens to a part of the human body that is exposed to a hard vaccum (explodes spectacularly as seen in Hollywood movies vs. just becoming freeze-dried really quickly), and attempts at this are a sure way to earn a Darwin award.

        Piss on a sponge (or a towel or something similar), squeeze the sponge dry outside of the station, return it inside for reuse. You don't even get a cloud of ice crystals following the station, since Sun's radiation will v

      • Re:time to innovate (Score:5, Informative)

        by Thelasko ( 1196535 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @09:39AM (#23570495) Journal

        The experiment of exposing an unpressurized hand to near vacuum for a significant time while the pilot went about his business occurred in real life on Aug. 16, 1960. Joe Kittinger, during his ascent to 102,800 ft (19.5 miles) in an open gondola, lost pressurization of his right hand. He decided to continue the mission, and the hand became painful and useless as you would expect. However, once back to lower altitudes following his record-breaking parachute jump, the hand returned to normal.
        Quoted from NASA [nasa.gov]
        There you have it, you don't explode in space. Your skin is actually very air tight. I think the worst thing that could happen is your bladder would become inverted. Think about it. Ouch!

    • Re:time to innovate (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:28AM (#23569617)

      Can't they just piss out the window ?
      Frosty Piss!
  • ... I don't understand plumbing, either.
    • This is in the Russian part of the station. My guess is they need to pour some vodka on it.
      • If it was Russian, I'm sure you could fix it with a kick in the right place.

        Then again, if it was American, it sure would have a backup system. And let's be GLAD there's no backup, at least!
    • It's just like working with electronics, in fact.

      * make sure both surfaces are clean (use a wire brush if needed)
      * heat both surfaces to just the right temp
      * allow the solder to wick up into the gap by capillary action

      note: might be a good idea to use lead-free solder...

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by damn_registrars ( 1103043 )

        It's just like working with electronics, in fact.

        * make sure both surfaces are clean (use a wire brush if needed)
        * heat both surfaces to just the right temp
        * allow the solder to wick up into the gap by capillary action

        note: might be a good idea to use lead-free solder...


        Gee, if I have to do all that just to take a dump on the space station, I think I'll pass...
      • Wait, are we talking about plumbing, or sex? I also advocate not actually using lead in your pencil, to preserve your soldier's capillary action.

  • well (Score:3, Funny)

    by gEvil (beta) ( 945888 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:00AM (#23569337)
    Well that sounds pretty shitty.

  • The good news (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Megane ( 129182 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:00AM (#23569341)

    The good news is that we're about to send another shuttle up, maybe they can throw some parts in.

    But they only have one toilet up there? I mean, sure it's not a "Criticality One" component, but you'd think that would be a good candidate for redundancy.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Megane ( 129182 )
      It appears that there is some kind of toilet on the Soyuz module, [nasa.gov] though I would guess that it probably doesn't have as much capacity or functionality.
    • I just overheard news announcement on NPR that that shuttle is loaded up to the brim with 32000 lb of Japanese equipment, so they had to get rid off some observational periscope for outer insulation or smth....

    • Re:The good news (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:13AM (#23569465)
      Unfortunately this Shuttle mission is probably the most weight limited mission of the entire program. They are putting up the big part of the Japanese lab, and it is huge! I'd have to check, but I think this is the most massive object a Space Shuttle will ever put up. Unless the toilet weighs less than 100 kg, there probably isn't room for it. They've already cut one member of the crew to save weight.

    • Re:The good news (Score:5, Informative)

      by ultranova ( 717540 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @09:13AM (#23570159)

      But they only have one toilet up there? I mean, sure it's not a "Criticality One" component, but you'd think that would be a good candidate for redundancy.

      Actually, in a small airtight container where the air cannot be exchanged easily (if at all), waste management is Criticality One, especially since there's no gravity and the waste is gas forming and full of micro-organisms.

      Breathing powdered shit is dangerous.

    • sure it's not a "Criticality One" component

      No it is. Crapping and pissing are biological functions that are just as critical as eating, drinking, breathing and sleeping to keep someone alive.
      You want your crew alive ? You have to make sure some life support system works. That includes fresh air and temperature control. But that also includes, food supplies, sleeping bags and toilets.

      but you'd think that would be a good candidate for redundancy.

      Yup. What will be the next news ? The only microwave oven / food rehydration appliance of the whole station died ?

    • I think it was a communication error. When the designers asked if they should consider a backup system for the toilet, the crew groaned "hell no!"

  • Could be worse (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:09AM (#23569425)
    My father could be running NASA. I'm sure they wouldn't happy to hear they'd have to hold it until they got home.

  • Two systems? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by RockMFR ( 1022315 )
    Why is the shit separated from the piss? Is it because the piss will just fly all over the place due to the lack of gravity? If that's the case, I hope nobody has diarrhea :)

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by rtaylor ( 70602 )
      The water is recycled.

  • so what are they going to do? (Score:5, Funny)

    by jollyreaper ( 513215 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:13AM (#23569463)
    Are they going to relieve themselves in little plastic baggies? And will there be the temptation to take these baggies out on spacewalks, wait until the appropriate continent swings around and let 'em fly? Man, the pigeons will be looking up to these astronauts as gods.

  • Let me guess... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Chelloveck ( 14643 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:21AM (#23569539)

    a "special receptacle"

    Let me guess... A two-liter Mountain Dew bottle which they'll later just throw out the window, right? Because I've soooo been there, man!

    • I trained as a Private Inquiries Agent (in a country/state that requires licensing to do that as a job). The "Mountain Dew Bottle" was covered pretty much in the first day of the six month course. It's required learning, and if you forget "empty bottle" when they ask you about required items for a surveillance operation, you won't be passing that test!

      (although procedure is to keep it, then dispose of it correctly later - not throw it out the window)

  • not the fix for *everything* (Score:5, Funny)

    by v1 ( 525388 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:26AM (#23569581) Homepage Journal
    Quite possibly NASA's first ever major problem that not even the magical duct tape could save the day.

    Now watch, we'll read tomorrow about them making a new makeshift toilet with duct tape...

  • "Russian Built" (Score:5, Interesting)

    by elrous0 ( 869638 ) * on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:26AM (#23569583)
    Decades after the space race ended and the U.S. media and NASA still feel the need to get in any shot they can at the Russians and downplay their incredible successes. When a Mars probe fails, no one says "The American built Mars rover was lost today." No one says "The American built Columbia space shuttle blew up today." For decades growing up, all any of us heard about was the great Apollo program. No one heard about the Russian space stations, the Russian probe to Mars, etc. In fact, the first time American media reported at any length on the MIR was when it started to have problems (well after it was beyond its projected lifespan).

    The U.S. media treats the Russian space program like it were some bunch of morons building substandard machinery. But who did WE rely on to take us into space when our great space shuttle was reduced to bits and pieces? Who has a MUCH lower fatality rate and a MUCH higher rocket success rate?

    • Re:"Russian Built" (Score:5, Insightful)

      by everphilski ( 877346 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:35AM (#23569685) Journal
      No one says "The American built Columbia space shuttle blew up today." For decades growing up, all any of us heard about was the great Apollo program. No one heard about the Russian space stations, the Russian probe to Mars, etc. In fact, the first time American media reported at any length on the MIR was when it started to have problems (well after it was beyond its projected lifespan).

      All of those programs were run by a single country. ISS is the international space station. You don't know who contributed what part unless you identify it. People regularly identify Japanese, Russian and other contributions to ISS because it is appropriate, both good and bad.

      Now, the Russians have had a string of bad luck the past few months - the computers on ISS (although that might have been induced by new solar panels, who knows who is truly to blame), the explosive bolts on the Soyuz causing non-nominal landings (and now word that the Soyuz docked to ISS, the emergency lifeboat, has the same hardware) and now this. I'm sure they aren't happy about it but it happens. America has had their strings of bad luck as well. How many Redstone rockets exploded on the pad (or within inches of it on ascent) before we ever got a monkey into suborbital space, much less a human?

      Shit happens, but I think you are being overly sensitive.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by HisMother ( 413313 )
      The smart money says the early Soviet space program involved sending large numbers of cosmonauts to near-certain death, then only reporting the successes. You really think a totalitarian regime doesn't sweep its failures under the rug?
      • Yeah, because the ballistic missile early warning system never would have caught those failures and we would have cooperated with the Soviets in covering them up to protect their tender feelings.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by blueZ3 ( 744446 )
          Yeah, because BMEWS could always tell the guys at NORAD if the "missile" was manned or unmanned, right?

    • Re:"Russian Built" (Score:4, Funny)

      by Thelasko ( 1196535 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:52AM (#23569877) Journal

      Components. American components, Russian Components, ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!

  • yikes... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by apodyopsis ( 1048476 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:26AM (#23569591)

    "Solids" go where they're supposed to, but "liquids" don't.


    I can't help it. My first reaction (and I am sure other peoples too) was what if an astronaut gets diarrhhea or gastroenteritis? suddenly opening the window would really look like a viable escape strategy. "Apollo bags" seems like an acceptable (albeit ghastly) short term solution.

    We may be rational, sensible people but scatological subjects will always affect us badly.

  • What I'd say to the astronauts... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Robotech_Master ( 14247 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:29AM (#23569633) Homepage Journal
    "Urine trouble now!"
  • Amazing how many euphemisms there are for "Shop Vac" these days!
  • According to what I remember reading somewhere, the correct name for this highly-advanced portajohn is the 0 gee whizz...

  • The question is... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Thelasko ( 1196535 ) on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @08:58AM (#23569981) Journal
    how much does a licensed plumber charge for a service call to low earth orbit?

    This could blow the budget for both the Moon and Mars!
  • Space Station Toilets Piss Off
  • New Rule: Stop putting paper towels in the toilet.

  • Something tells me they're glad the failure wasn't the other way around.
    No shit!

  • Relevant situation (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dargaud ( 518470 ) <slashdot2@nOSpaM.gdargaud.net> on Wednesday May 28, 2008 @10:35AM (#23571239) Homepage
    In Antarctica we use a similar system, build by the European Space Agency, that recycles separately 'grey water' and 'black water' (I'll let you guess what those terms cover). At the time I was there in 2005 the station was new and the black water system wasn't operational, so we were using 'burners'... until something went wrong. There's more details on my pages [gdargaud.net] but here's the main stuff:

    The smoke from the incinolets is becoming worse and worse, smoking up the entire building with a pungent stink. Michel takes some pressure measurements inside the evacuation tube and determines that there must be a block of ice formed inside. When they installed the tubes on the last days of the summer campaign, they did use special insulation around them, but at the junction between the tubes there's unprotected metal exposed to the outside. We don't have the crane anymore so we have to tie up to access the top junction from the roof or from a high ladder at the bottom. In the morning the work is atrociously difficult with a strong wind and a temperature of -60ÂC, ensconced in 10 cm of clothing and sausaged up in security slings. Every 10 minutes we break down and head back inside for some warmth. The price of taking a dump ! Fortunately in the afternoon the wind has dropped to a perfect zero and it's actually quite enjoyable to do technical rope work in such a setting. Throughout the day I provide technical rope assistance to Jeff while Stéphane and Jean work from the ladder down below. They finish the work the next day by installing an extractor at the base of the tube. During the 3 days without bathroom we have to use the outside construction toilet, which is fortunately heated but it's not particularly convenient at night !
    There are also some pics somewhere.
  • Massive corn clog in port seven!
  • Just replace the flange and wax ring. Sheesh!
  • This is the kind of problems humans will face everyday while exploring the universe. Not the plasma-shields, warp reactors and all that pasteurized crap you see in today's sci-fi movies and novels.

    And remember. In space, no one can hear you fart.

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