Posted on 07/19/2009 11:52:10 AM PDT by TaxPayer2000
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station used a pair of robot arms to install a pallet of equipment on Sunday, but when break-time came they may have found long lines at the bathrooms.
With a record 13 people aboard the station, the main toilet broke down, sending astronauts scrambling to the use backup commodes on the Russian side of the station and aboard the visiting U.S. shuttle Endeavour.
"Put an 'Out-of-Service' note on the WHC (waste and hygiene compartment)," Mission Control's Hal Getselman told a crewmember after a fruitless attempt at repairs.
The commode, which is connected to the station's wastewater-recycling system, had been the crew's main bathroom. NASA was limiting shuttle toilet use because it cannot dump the wastewater overboard, as is customary during flight.
Wastewater dumps could contaminate the station's newly installed platform for science experiments.
The porch-like facility was mounted on the front of the station's Kibo laboratory during a spacewalk Saturday. It will be used to hold experiments that need to be exposed to the open environment of space.
"For right now, having all (shuttle crewmembers) using the shuttle toilet is not going to be an issue," station flight director Brian Smith said.
If the toilet cannot be repaired within about six days, it could become a more serious matter, Smith added. "We don't yet know the extent of the problem," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Stuff is really going to hit the fan now.
The irony that, surrounded by all the technology necessary to launch and sustain man outside of the earth’s atmosphere, one of the most difficult feats is taking care of such a basic bodily need, never ceases to amuse me.
**Stuff is really going to hit the fan now.**
Not to mention the Plumber’s BILL for this one...and on a Weekend, No Less.. that’ll make the bill DOUBLE!!
Guess they forgot to pack the plunger, eh?
Why can’t all the toilets break down in the Whitehouse instead of the space station?
I’ve said it before - anyone who gets on a government rocket is braver than I am. It’s only a matter of time before another horrible catastrophe related to this program. Why do we keep sending these things into space anyway? Isn’t it merely to justify the existence of NASA?
Because the White House is already full of...
If the Russian commodes are anything like Ukrainian ones, they'll need to bring money and their own roll of toilet paper.
You hsve no idea how right you are: there’s a “rotary solids separator” in the station toilet.
IT literally is SUPPOSED to hit the fan when operating correctly!!!
Sounds like a crappy day in space ping.
Aw S**t.
Paging Captain Obvious.
Oh Sh*t!
“”For right now, having all (shuttle crewmembers) using the shuttle toilet is not going to be an issue,” station flight director Brian Smith said.”
That’s easy for you to say, Mr. ‘flight director’ Smith.
Put it in baggies and pitch it into space.
How hard can it be to operate the toilet? Make it like a portable john and when it’s full, just eject the waste into space.
No one can hear you crap in space...
It’s those damned low flow toilets.
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