Posted on 06/06/2008 11:27:28 PM PDT by neverdem
The troublesome toilet aboard the International Space Station appears to be working again, thanks to a replacement pump taken to the station by the shuttle Discovery.
“The toilet appears to have been repaired,” said Rob Navias, the commentator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s video channel on the Web, NASA TV (www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/).
The single toilet aboard the station has separate systems for dealing with solid and liquid waste, and the systems are designed to work without the help of gravity.
The solid waste system was operating properly, but the liquid system, which uses air flow to direct urine and store it in a receptacle, began malfunctioning more than a week before the shuttle’s arrival on Monday. A pump that separates urine from air and directs the urine into a tank failed; two spare pumps aboard the station were installed and failed as well.
To deal with the malfunctioning high-tech toilet while answering the call of nature, the two Russian cosmonauts and American astronaut who are living aboard the station had to go through a work-around procedure that took a great deal of time and wasted water. Oleg Kononenko, the cosmonaut who did the repair work, replaced the pump with the one delivered by the shuttle and tested the urine collection system.
NASA, anticipating that the fix might not work, had sent up enough backup urine collection devices so that the crew would be able to remain aboard the station until the next resupply ship arrives in September...
--snip--
The problem with the toilet, while serious, has become a focus for jokes as the mission approached. When Cmdr. Mark Kelly of the Navy, the commander of the shuttle mission, first entered the station after docking on Monday, he asked, “You looking for a plumber?”...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
According to a NASA document describing the waste-disposal system they have, they use mechanical rather than biological filtering because it can be fixed if something breaks. heh..did’t do any better in this case—they needed a spare part.
That’s a hell of a plumber...
Just like here on earth: they take TOO LONG to show up and they’re EXPENSIVE.
/johnny
And you have to wait between 1pm to 4 pm...
And you have to wait between 1pm to 4 pm...
****
That’s for the cable and phone guy. Plumbers tell you 12-7 pm...if they “feel” like showing up.
LOL
Antibacterial wipes can spread superbugs: study (MRSA)
Tainted cheese fuels TB rise in California
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
I guess they can all reduce their cheese rations back to normal now.
There was no diaper in the filter, your Honor.
A slow news day, I guess.
Two spare pumps failed as well? Houston, you have a problem.
what... no relief tube???
Wonderful, I was starting to get worried.
In other news, Centurion316 went to his local Home Depot, purchased a toilet tank repair kit, installed it, and scratched off yet another item on the never ending Honey Do List.
IBTF
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