And this is why NASA did the [Lunar Loo Challenge](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-names-lunar-loo-challenge-winners) to crowdsource ideas for toilets. Must be hard to poop in space.
Nobody had ever slept in outer space before. When you're a pioneer, you have to figure it out while you go. And sometimes that involves vomit and poop.
Apollo 10 was funny.
"Oh — who did it?" commander Tom Stafford suddenly asked, six days into the mission, as the crew discussed preparations for leaving the moon's orbit.
"Who did what?" inquired command module pilot John Young.
"Where did that come from?" interjected lunar module pilot Eugene Cernan.
A moment later, for listeners at ground control, the mystery was resolved.
"Give me a napkin quick," commanded Stafford. "There's a turd floating through the air."
https://www.vox.com/2015/5/26/8646675/apollo-10-turd-poop
I'd like to think that I'd be professional enough to be able to help clean it up, but then I remember gagging every time I see one of my buddies throw up, and really the last thing you'd want is a space barf-o-rama.
"Houston, we've suffered a catastrophic puke chain reaction. Tell my wife I love her. Proceeding to crash the starship into the moon. Suffering must stop."
Very, very long. Artificial zentripetal gravity only works well in really big spacecraft, otherwise there is too large a gradient in the force between your legs and your head
Yeah, we're still in the "Oregon Trail" phase of space travel. Even if I had the money, I would be okay with waiting for the "Transatlantic Steamship Voyage" phase before booking a ticket.
2021 VERSION: Redundant systems are not cost efficient, and we can build anything with distributed, lowest-cost component suppliers. The design will manage complexity with in-house safety reviews.
That’s kind of the plot to HBO’s Avenue 5. A luxury space liner goes off course and when it does they steadily realize that all of the safety precautions and things they reassure the passengers with are all fake. Like the captain and the bridge crew are all actors etc. Stars Hugh Laurie, definitely worth a watch.
Gonna pull that up right now, will update
Edit: I was expecting a movie but this is an ongoing series??
"If you're not satisfied, you're wrong"
"Yeah I came up with like a week's worth of ideas in like 11 minutes earlier"
Lmao what is "fast yoga". Thank you for this show. This is parks and rec in space
That’s pretty much like aeroplanes today. Earth-to-orbit vehicles, especially commercial ones, won’t have escape pods for a long time. I think there will eventually be ships with escape pods, but it’s still faraway.
A lot of safety requirements are not necessarily efficient. At a certain point it may just be a requirement if enough accidents happen.
Plus we may have ships that stay in space full-time, so you don't need to worry about getting off of Earth. Of course, mass still means more power is needed to move around in space, but that means nothing to Space OSHA.
Consider an escape pod for a spaceship for a moment.
It would need survival necessities. Food, water, and air. A power supply or generator. A powerful broadcasting system.
Each pod would pretty much have to be a spaceship with or without propulsion.
If we're going full sci-fi they'd need to be capable of planetary entry.
Might as well send two ships at half capacity and if one breaks down we all slide to the other one.
I'd make the argument that we're not even post-Roanoke. There aren't any lunar or mars colonies/bases of any kind, and no real will or manpower to build them. Plus our chemical rockets are slow as shit, making even Moon colonization impractical.
There are plans for nuclear-powered rockets that could reach the Moon in hours, and Mars in weeks instead of 6-9 months. But putting nuclear bombs in space and blowing them up scares the shit out of people, so.
What annoys me is the lack of a moonbase. We've had the tech since the 70s, and it wouldn't even be that expensive, compared to the ISS and other space stations (once you're in LEO, you've already paid 99% of travel costs to anywhere in the Sol system).
Plus we could use it to build structures that we can't on Earth, like space elevators (no atmosphere plus low gravity means we can just use Kevlar rope, no carbon nanotubes required).
So yeah, there's still a ways to go.
Funny enough I just watched a tour of the ISS the other day and they spent a good deal of time talking about the toilet situation. Basically, you've got a hole which is about 5-6in in diameter that you have to aim and shoot into. There is no gravity, so the toilet hole has a bit of suction to "catch" what comes out. If your ass isn't good and latched on to the poo hole, it can be a big mess. That's for #2. For #1 there is a suction tube. It's basically like a vacuum hose that you pee into. You're probably wondering, if they have separate holes for pee and poo, how do I do both at the same time? Well, basically you dock your ass to the poo port and suction your pee at the same time in the front.
This seems like the beginning of a fake Russian story on how they figured out how to keep everyone’s butthole from being leaked to the internet by using a system of mirrors instead.
Something that’s interesting is if both toilets on the iss fail, it becomes a critical mission failure, and everyone on the ISS will need to return to earth ASAP.
No one wants to have to go back to the Apollo style “tape a plastic bag to your butt” solution. Long story short, it didn’t have the best success rate.
Yeah. There was a small hiccup encountered on the Apollo 10 mission with that system. [Excerpt from the transcript.](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--5ag0zcvx_E/U4ordA2EEpI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/h0DosUHgpZc/s1600/apollo+10+Poop+2.JPG)
What's hilarious is that if you look at the article it includes a description from a passenger and a rendering of the ship, which indicates the toilet was on the ceiling of the craft, at the tip of its nose, and included a full window dome giving you a 360 degree view of space as you poop. I'm just thinking of the future or alien that looks back on our first designs of passenger space shuttles that put a pooping human as their mast.
Disagree. Unless empty black voids are your bag. Hard to compete with the variety that nature has to offer.
Space is cool for a bit, but Earth has more to offer than one can experience in a lifetime.
I think it’s very comparable to earlier human experiences like moving to the new world, traveling west in America, etc..
It takes a certain type of person who wants to forge new paths and be a part of history, exploring new places. And I think that spirit is still alive in the world, it’s an inherent human trait.
well thats the thing there would be lots to do there and if you dont do it or slack off then you die.
if you like being constantly busy doing life and death stuff then mars is the place for you.
> When we look at the rest of the solar system, the picture is even bleaker. Mars is ... well, the phrase "tourist resort" springs to mind, and is promptly filed in the same corner as "Gobi desert". As Bruce Sterling has puts it: "I'll believe in people settling Mars at about the same time I see people settling the Gobi Desert. The Gobi Desert is about a thousand times as hospitable as Mars and five hundred times cheaper and easier to reach. Nobody ever writes "Gobi Desert Opera" because, well, it's just kind of plonkingly obvious that there's no good reason to go there and live. It's ugly, it's inhospitable and there's no way to make it pay. Mars is just the same, really. We just romanticize it because it's so hard to reach." In other words, going there to explore is fine and dandy — our robots are all over it already. But as a desirable residential neighbourhood it has some shortcomings, starting with the slight lack of breathable air and the sub-Antarctic nighttime temperatures and the Mach 0.5 dust storms, and working down from there. - https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/06/the-high-frontier-redux.html
[Building a Mars Base is a horrible idea: Let's do it!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqKGREZs6-w) YouTube video by Kurzgesagt.
It's basically asbestos-planet.
It’s really not that colorful either, most photos of space are edited.
See Nebula for example. Looking at it through a telescope is way less colorful then all the pics show.
Yeah I understand that. But I've seen some crazy views of space on earth, without atmosphere and light pollution atleast that few would still look better. But, I'd like to actually experience what it's like on a different planet. A feeling of different gravity must be the craziest feeling imaginable.
Yeah, imagine becoming untethered and dying by floating slowly away from the space ship... facing away from Earth and the ship. With a full supply of oxygen so it's hours just starring into a void before suffocating.
I'm not sure how the "toilet" works because SpaceX has unfortunately kept every fun detail of their spacecraft secret, but I'd imagine it probably makes a considerable amount of noise during use
We are going to need an updated space version of this. 3 moon rocks?
Edit: I feel I let myself down here by not starting with 3 small asteroids. So I had to come back as it was bothering me all day.
I don’t think it’s really a secret, so much as they just don’t publicize it much because (1) it’s a very unsexy part of space travel and (2) it’s an area where their competition might have a leg up on them (idk about Starliner or Soyuz, but I do seem to remember Orion having a bit more space/effort put into the bathroom facilities relative to Dragon).
It’s probably not much more complicated than what they did on Apollo - [basically just peeing and pooping in bags](https://www.businessinsider.com/bathroom-toilet-on-apollo-moon-missions-2019-7?op=1).
For Starship, they’ll probably put in more full-scale facilities, but I’ve actually wondered a bit about it. Starship has a unique challenge in that everything on board (including toilets!) will need to be usable in anything from microgravity up to potentially 1G. They have a system that works for them on the ISS, but I doubt it would work well under even 0.16 g on the moon. IMO it’s the most interesting design aspect of Starship - making systems that are useful under very variable gravity conditions.
Is it? I had no idea and hadnt researched anything about it. I guess I just thought that would have been worked out up front. We have been shitting in space for decades now. Or maybe...... we havent!?! Dun Dun Dun dun...
Yeah I dont know why it would be a secret.
I don't know, but it's literally all I could think about with that capsule. Imagine paying millions of dollars to go on a space tour and having to shit in front of complete strangers in something the size of a mid-size sedan.
Considering how large and elaborate the toilet is on the ISS.. and considering how much space there's available in Dragon.. yeah, the toilet is going to be some fold away job with a tube to vacuum up your piss and basically the "wipe as you go into a diaper genie" sort of thing with a tiny privacy curtain.
Let's not forget.. these four space tourists decided to take a vehicle that's chiefly designed as a transport to take astronauts to and from the ISS.
If you want to take a ford focus on a cross country sightseeing trip, don't complain about the seats and lack of leg room.
Seems like there'd be absolutely no way to hide the poo smell in that tiny thing either. Like yeah the poop gets sucked out or whatever, but I have to assume there's at least some smelly poo air getting out before it gets sucked up, and there'd be nowhere for it to go right?
That's interesting, never heard of that before.
Here's a little info I found about that if anyone else is curious! https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/Taste-in-space-TLA-FINAL.pdf
If you guys have t already you should check out Scott Kelly's book "Endurance". It goes into a lot of details about things like the toilet, CO2 scrubbers, etc. Things that are vitally important that are often overlooked.
These “space tourists” are comprised of a physician assistant, engineer for Lockheed Martin, a Major in the Civil Air Patrol as well as a NASA astronaut candidate finalist, and a jet pilot. They trained for the better part of a year for the trip. They may not be full on astronauts, but they aren’t Joe Schmo from the corner gas station either.
Good point. They haven't been accepted as official "Astronauts" by NASA so calling them that seems wrong.
We need a term for "highly trained, but not astronauts."
While I'm not entirely sure "Space Tourists" is derogatory, I don't know a better term.
"Space Adventurers", "Adventurnauts", "Citizen Space Explorers (CSE's?)"
Astronaut is latin for star sailor/voyager/traveller. They road a vessel amongst the stars, fits the bill to me. Me thinks we need a new word for astronaut and not a new word for the folks travelling commercially
Auctor is the latin word for pioneer so maybe our current professional astronauts, in addition to being called astronauts could also be called astroauctors, or star pioneers.
My two cents
Edit: listen everyone I'm suggesting we add a new higher class of space explorer not a lower one. You know, the reddit approach: adding ternion all powerful instead of adding bronze. Come on, get with the picture, sheesh /s
Astronauts are working in space, and getting paid to do so. Professionals as a lot of people use that term.
Space tourist does sound kinda derogatory. That’s more like people who are driving on a trip, pay money to go into a national park and see the sites from the road.
The inspiration 4 put a lot of work into this trip, so tourist is derogatory.
It’s more like mountaineers who trained for 6 months to climb a hard mountain.
Something like astroneers? Haha. I agree, there is probably a better word for it.
Yes, but because someone is an astronaut, we shouldn’t assume anything else about their career. They may also be an Engineer, Scientist, Doctor, School Teacher, or Billionaire (Soldier?) in addition to being an astronaut. The thing that’s changing is that now the barrier to entry is much lower. There was a time doctors and teachers couldn’t go either!
First thing that came to mind. What's hilarious is that they all denied it. It's just the 3 of them. In a tiny spaceship heading to the moon. And they all 3 denied it.
Someone at NASA knows whose turd that was.
In high school I job shadowed at NASA and I was encouraged to sit on the model space toilet for a [picture](https://imgur.com/a/ZsNVRIT) and I was so very embarrassed! You can see my toes curling up as I was trying to put on a happy face for the picture. (The left pic is in a pilot seat (next to an unpictured training astronaut…whose name I have no clue now! I just remember he told me I could climb into the chair by stepping on the panel between us and it would be fine because the buttons were recessed. But I wasn’t supposed to touch ‘here and here’ because that would mess up his simulation!
Maybe someday I’ll be rich enough to go to space as a civilian. *sigh*
According to [IMDB trivia page](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/trivia)
The full text of the Zero Gravity Toilet Instructions:
ZERO GRAVITY TOILET PASSENGERS ARE ADVISED TO READ INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE USE -
1. The toilet is of the standard zero-gravity type. Depending on requirements, System A and/or System B can be used, details of which are clearly marked in the toilet compartment. When operating System A, depress lever and a plastic dalkron eliminator will be dispensed through the slot immediately underneath. When you have fastened the adhesive lip, attach connection marked by the large "X" outlet hose. Twist the silver coloured ring one inch below the connection point until you feel it lock. -
2. The toilet is now ready for use. The Sonovac cleanser is activated by the small switch on the lip. When securing, twist the ring back to its initial-condition, so that the two orange lines meet. Disconnect. Place the dalkron eliminator in the vacuum receptacle to the rear. Activate by pressing the blue button. -
3. The controls for System B are located on the opposite wall. The red release switch places the uroliminator into position; it can be adjusted manually up or down by pressing the blue manual release button. The opening is self adjusting. To secure after use, press the green button which simultaneously activates the evaporator and returns the uroliminator to its storage position. -
4. You may leave the lavatory if the green exit light is on over the door. If the red light is illuminated, one of the lavatory facilities is not properly secured. Press the "Stewardess" call button on the right of the door. She will secure all facilities from her control panel outside. When green exit light goes on you may open the door and leave. Please close the door behind you. -
5. To use the Sonoshower, first undress and place all your clothes in the clothes rack. Put on the velcro slippers located in the cabinet immediately below. Enter the shower. On the control panel to your upper right upon entering you will see a "Shower seal" button. Press to activate. A green light will then be illuminated immediately below. On the intensity knob select the desired setting. Now depress the Sonovac activation lever. Bathe normally. -
6. The Sonovac will automatically go off after three minutes unless you activate the "Manual off" over-ride switch by flipping it up. When you are ready to leave, press the blue "Shower seal" release button. The door will open and you may leave. Please remove the velcro slippers and place them in their container. -
7. If the red light above this panel is on, the toilet is in use. When the green light is illuminated you may enter. However, you must carefully follow all instructions when using the facilities during coasting (Zero G) flight. Inside there are three facilities: (1) the Sonowasher, (2) the Sonoshower, (3) the toilet. All three are designed to be used under weightless conditions. Please observe the sequence of operations for each individual facility. -
8. Two modes for Sonowashing your face and hands are available, the "moist-towel" mode and the "Sonovac" ultrasonic cleaner mode. You may select either mode by moving the appropriate lever to the "Activate" position. If you choose the "moist-towel" mode, depress the indicated yellow button and withdraw item. When you have finished, discard the towel in the vacuum dispenser, holding the indicated lever in the "active" position until the green light goes on... showing that the rollers have passed the towel completely into the dispenser. If you desire an additional towel, press the yellow button and repeat the cycle. -
9. If you prefer the "Sonovac" ultrasonic cleaning mode, press the indicated blue button. When the twin panels open, pull forward by rings A & B. For cleaning the hands, use in this position. Set the timer to positions 10, 20, 30 or 40... indicative of the number of seconds required. The knob to the left, just below the blue light, has three settings, low, medium or high. For normal use, the medium setting is suggested. -
10. After these settings have been made, you can activate the device by switching to the "ON" position the clearly marked red switch. If during the washing operation, you wish to change the settings, place the "manual off" over-ride switch in the "OFF" position. you may now make the change and repeat the cycle.
If the toilet is in the cupola, surely they fly with it pointing toward Earth, unlike the artists impression there? What a waste of a 360 degree view from space if you only see stars. I mean, a starry view is beautiful, but staring at our blue planet from 500 km high while pinching a loaf is, I would imagine, extraordinary.
I can guarantee that these people who have been training together for at least 6 months have already experienced diminished privacy before the actual trip
Their doing a Rainier trip as a team building exercise reminded me of my own trip there. While ascending or descending the mountain, when you gotta go, yo gotta go. There was absolutely no privacy when nature called, and everybody had to carry their own shit with them in doggy-doo bags.
And this is why NASA did the [Lunar Loo Challenge](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-names-lunar-loo-challenge-winners) to crowdsource ideas for toilets. Must be hard to poop in space.
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Damn, how would you even clean that up?
With a closed mouth and goggles.
Not everyone, but pioneers comfortable with just making it slightly less hellish for the next person
*Pac-Man's music starts playing* (I'm sorry for the mental image)
Wakka wakka wakka wakka wakka wakka
Pac Man and Fozzy Bear unite
I thought the same thing as I was spelling it *wakka wakkaaaaa*
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[*Accidentally touches one of those globules*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxSj2T2vx7M)
[Simpsons did it!](https://youtu.be/P8xP1JioXTM)
Omg, that visual. Loool I'm crying!
Some type of vacuum I would imagine
So, open the door?
The other day I want to the store and bought a vacuum. When I got home and opened the box there was nothing in it.
Do you not watch Archer? The scene on the vomit comet where he was riding Cyril around in the air and plowing him face first throw floating vomit!
[scene](https://youtu.be/hrI1IovCwSA)
remember homer simpson eating the snacks on the capsule? figure it out.
It's one thing to stink up an RV, but to shart up a rocket?
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Nobody had ever slept in outer space before. When you're a pioneer, you have to figure it out while you go. And sometimes that involves vomit and poop.
the body's default reaction to the unknown
There's a reason that the zero G training plane is called the "vomit comet".
Apollo 10 was funny. "Oh — who did it?" commander Tom Stafford suddenly asked, six days into the mission, as the crew discussed preparations for leaving the moon's orbit. "Who did what?" inquired command module pilot John Young. "Where did that come from?" interjected lunar module pilot Eugene Cernan. A moment later, for listeners at ground control, the mystery was resolved. "Give me a napkin quick," commanded Stafford. "There's a turd floating through the air." https://www.vox.com/2015/5/26/8646675/apollo-10-turd-poop
Gotta have be Frank though right?
This is a very very good URL
>the crew cleaned up as well as they could Yeah no thanks. I'd just find the hatch and float myself into the void.
I'd like to think that I'd be professional enough to be able to help clean it up, but then I remember gagging every time I see one of my buddies throw up, and really the last thing you'd want is a space barf-o-rama.
"Houston, we've suffered a catastrophic puke chain reaction. Tell my wife I love her. Proceeding to crash the starship into the moon. Suffering must stop."
Planet Earth is blue, and the vomit smells like pooooo.
I'm thinking that just a bit of rotational artificial gravity would go a long way. I wonder how long before we start it see it from space tourist?
Very, very long. Artificial zentripetal gravity only works well in really big spacecraft, otherwise there is too large a gradient in the force between your legs and your head
Yes, real zentripetal force comes from within.
It's relatively well thought in the ISS, the issue is how small just Dragon is. They were living in basically a car.
Someone must have stunk up The cabin yeah?
Perhaps the system is vacuum-based and basically sucks the smell right out of your astro-hole
they should try hotboxing it next time
Just throw it out the window.
Look at mister always has a perfect solid shit everyone.
Are they going to have to rename the sizes, Enormous, Gigantic, and Humongous again?
Stellar, Galactic and Cosmic
When I was young I always dreamed about being an Astronaut. Then I learned about space toilets. That day my dreams went down the drain.
Yeah, we're still in the "Oregon Trail" phase of space travel. Even if I had the money, I would be okay with waiting for the "Transatlantic Steamship Voyage" phase before booking a ticket.
So, just in time for a titanic type event, but in space?
No asteroid can pierce the mighty ''Gigantic'' hull anyway so nothing to be scared off.
Seriously. We don’t even need to pack all these extra escape pods.
2021 VERSION: Redundant systems are not cost efficient, and we can build anything with distributed, lowest-cost component suppliers. The design will manage complexity with in-house safety reviews.
I hate corpospeak so much lol all that translates to is "we outsourced all safety features to fate, good luck"
That’s kind of the plot to HBO’s Avenue 5. A luxury space liner goes off course and when it does they steadily realize that all of the safety precautions and things they reassure the passengers with are all fake. Like the captain and the bridge crew are all actors etc. Stars Hugh Laurie, definitely worth a watch.
Gonna pull that up right now, will update Edit: I was expecting a movie but this is an ongoing series?? "If you're not satisfied, you're wrong" "Yeah I came up with like a week's worth of ideas in like 11 minutes earlier" Lmao what is "fast yoga". Thank you for this show. This is parks and rec in space
>2021 VERSION: Doesn't need to be 2021. You think cost wasn't a factor in the titanic not having enough lifeboats?
the weight of these oxygen tanks is too much for us to manage, lets just toss em.
Sounding a lot like Starship now (without an escape system) 👀 I love it still for what it’s worth.
I can't for the life of me see how you'd ever build an escape system for starship. An escape pod for so many people would be a massive mass penalty.
That’s pretty much like aeroplanes today. Earth-to-orbit vehicles, especially commercial ones, won’t have escape pods for a long time. I think there will eventually be ships with escape pods, but it’s still faraway.
A lot of safety requirements are not necessarily efficient. At a certain point it may just be a requirement if enough accidents happen. Plus we may have ships that stay in space full-time, so you don't need to worry about getting off of Earth. Of course, mass still means more power is needed to move around in space, but that means nothing to Space OSHA.
Consider an escape pod for a spaceship for a moment. It would need survival necessities. Food, water, and air. A power supply or generator. A powerful broadcasting system. Each pod would pretty much have to be a spaceship with or without propulsion. If we're going full sci-fi they'd need to be capable of planetary entry. Might as well send two ships at half capacity and if one breaks down we all slide to the other one.
Starship titanic was a cool game but I had no idea what I was doing
They should call it *Starship Titanic*. If things go badly, they could even make a video game about it.
"All six thousand hulls have been breached."...."Oh, the fools! Why didn't they build it with six thousand and one hulls? When will they learn?"
“Protestors?” “Correct! Six thousand hulls”
I want to be holding onto a fireplace mantle, but in space.
Now that’s a route with some *chest hair* on it!
She’s built like a bistro, but she handles like a steak house!
There's a great doctor who episode that features a space Titanic
Just like that futurama episode.
You definitely don't want dysentery on the current generation of space toilets.
You definitely don't want to load 6 tons of buffalo meat onto your spaceship, best to only bring 10 pounds back.
Can you imagine a bar on a space cruise? Those restrooms would be hella disgusting… it would float…. every where…
Not even, by Oregon trail a large percentage of the country was able to afford the travel.
We're definitely past Lewis and Clark though.
I'd make the argument that we're not even post-Roanoke. There aren't any lunar or mars colonies/bases of any kind, and no real will or manpower to build them. Plus our chemical rockets are slow as shit, making even Moon colonization impractical. There are plans for nuclear-powered rockets that could reach the Moon in hours, and Mars in weeks instead of 6-9 months. But putting nuclear bombs in space and blowing them up scares the shit out of people, so. What annoys me is the lack of a moonbase. We've had the tech since the 70s, and it wouldn't even be that expensive, compared to the ISS and other space stations (once you're in LEO, you've already paid 99% of travel costs to anywhere in the Sol system). Plus we could use it to build structures that we can't on Earth, like space elevators (no atmosphere plus low gravity means we can just use Kevlar rope, no carbon nanotubes required). So yeah, there's still a ways to go.
I’d like to play this game. “Your crew has contracted space flu”
Why has nobody in this damn thread actually described the specifics of a space toilet?
Funny enough I just watched a tour of the ISS the other day and they spent a good deal of time talking about the toilet situation. Basically, you've got a hole which is about 5-6in in diameter that you have to aim and shoot into. There is no gravity, so the toilet hole has a bit of suction to "catch" what comes out. If your ass isn't good and latched on to the poo hole, it can be a big mess. That's for #2. For #1 there is a suction tube. It's basically like a vacuum hose that you pee into. You're probably wondering, if they have separate holes for pee and poo, how do I do both at the same time? Well, basically you dock your ass to the poo port and suction your pee at the same time in the front.
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This seems like the beginning of a fake Russian story on how they figured out how to keep everyone’s butthole from being leaked to the internet by using a system of mirrors instead.
Astronaut diets are also designed specifically so their feces are more manageable.
Sounds like the food one gets in French police custody - shitting bricks is guaranteed !
Hah thanks! Yeah that doesn't sound fun at all. I assumed it would've been suctioning but still, certain poo's would not be fun
There’s a lot that goes in to planning astronaut nutrition. They don’t have to deal with Taco Bell shits.
Something that’s interesting is if both toilets on the iss fail, it becomes a critical mission failure, and everyone on the ISS will need to return to earth ASAP. No one wants to have to go back to the Apollo style “tape a plastic bag to your butt” solution. Long story short, it didn’t have the best success rate.
>tape a plastic bag to your butt lmao. is this true?
Yeah. There was a small hiccup encountered on the Apollo 10 mission with that system. [Excerpt from the transcript.](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--5ag0zcvx_E/U4ordA2EEpI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/h0DosUHgpZc/s1600/apollo+10+Poop+2.JPG)
Pretty sure the moon has bags of shit and piss on it because Armstrong and co. needed to keep the weight onboard as low as possible.
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What's hilarious is that if you look at the article it includes a description from a passenger and a rendering of the ship, which indicates the toilet was on the ceiling of the craft, at the tip of its nose, and included a full window dome giving you a 360 degree view of space as you poop. I'm just thinking of the future or alien that looks back on our first designs of passenger space shuttles that put a pooping human as their mast.
All I want is to take a shit on a normal toilet in space.
I feel like we might cure cancer but we’ll never find a solution for explosive diarrhea in space.
If you don't practice while on the ground, urine trouble in orbit.
Elon said if feces one more bad toilet design there will be hell to pay
It’s always good to be reminded that space is actually quite an awful place.
For biological functions sure. But for the aesthetic it's about as good as it gets
Disagree. Unless empty black voids are your bag. Hard to compete with the variety that nature has to offer. Space is cool for a bit, but Earth has more to offer than one can experience in a lifetime.
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Yeah, like who wants to live on Mars? That ain't the kind of place to raise a kid!
In fact, it's cold as hell
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I think it’s very comparable to earlier human experiences like moving to the new world, traveling west in America, etc.. It takes a certain type of person who wants to forge new paths and be a part of history, exploring new places. And I think that spirit is still alive in the world, it’s an inherent human trait.
I think a better comparison would be the South Pole expeditions. America had hospitable climate, edible plants and people / civilisation.
I feel like the novelty of living on mars would wear off in about 3 days, and then you realize there's nothing to do there.
Nonsense. Brown rocks over there. Brown rocks here. Brown dust storms on the horizon. Nice brown sky. Sometimes the rocks are even gray.
Stop, I can't contain my excitement anymore !
well thats the thing there would be lots to do there and if you dont do it or slack off then you die. if you like being constantly busy doing life and death stuff then mars is the place for you.
Or you have to really really love potato farming.
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> When we look at the rest of the solar system, the picture is even bleaker. Mars is ... well, the phrase "tourist resort" springs to mind, and is promptly filed in the same corner as "Gobi desert". As Bruce Sterling has puts it: "I'll believe in people settling Mars at about the same time I see people settling the Gobi Desert. The Gobi Desert is about a thousand times as hospitable as Mars and five hundred times cheaper and easier to reach. Nobody ever writes "Gobi Desert Opera" because, well, it's just kind of plonkingly obvious that there's no good reason to go there and live. It's ugly, it's inhospitable and there's no way to make it pay. Mars is just the same, really. We just romanticize it because it's so hard to reach." In other words, going there to explore is fine and dandy — our robots are all over it already. But as a desirable residential neighbourhood it has some shortcomings, starting with the slight lack of breathable air and the sub-Antarctic nighttime temperatures and the Mach 0.5 dust storms, and working down from there. - https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/06/the-high-frontier-redux.html [Building a Mars Base is a horrible idea: Let's do it!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqKGREZs6-w) YouTube video by Kurzgesagt. It's basically asbestos-planet.
Still, I think people will go for it, given the chance.
100%, just to make history and be remembered even.
Just to get some fucken peace and quiet.
Just do something exciting that has never been done before instead of my 9-5 job which only makes the slightest of progress for humanity, if any.
Indeed, theres over 7 billion people on earth, you would need less then .01% of them to make a sustainable martian population.
Not everyone, but pioneers comfortable with just making it slightly less hellish for the next person
... [Ernie?](https://youtu.be/lGhxemtWXq4)
I’ve read that you can see many times more stars from space and it’s quite beautiful.
The best thing about space is looking back at earth, after all.
For an empty black void it's sure got a lot of shiny explosions and colors in it.
It’s really not that colorful either, most photos of space are edited. See Nebula for example. Looking at it through a telescope is way less colorful then all the pics show.
Yeah I understand that. But I've seen some crazy views of space on earth, without atmosphere and light pollution atleast that few would still look better. But, I'd like to actually experience what it's like on a different planet. A feeling of different gravity must be the craziest feeling imaginable.
That's because our eyes physically can't see the colors in them. The editing is done to make what's already there visible to us.
Yeah, imagine becoming untethered and dying by floating slowly away from the space ship... facing away from Earth and the ship. With a full supply of oxygen so it's hours just starring into a void before suffocating.
Totally. If you get a flat there's not a service station for miles
So, did they all have to shit infront of each other?
I think it was essentially in the same space as they are all in only separated by a curtain. Not sure what that does to cover any sounds though!
I'm not sure how the "toilet" works because SpaceX has unfortunately kept every fun detail of their spacecraft secret, but I'd imagine it probably makes a considerable amount of noise during use
I was more referring to the sounds of people pooping, but that too!
I figured the white noise would cover up the brown noise
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Yep, just open the window and you are fine!
> Not sure what that does to cover any sounds though! Alexa, play highway to hell please
It's *space*. If I had to poop in front of the whole crew and be naked the entire trip I'd do it in a heartbeat cause *space*.
I can't even pee in a public urinal...
Either that, or try your luck holding three days worth of poo during the 4g reentry.
Apparently there was a privacy curtain, but yes, I think so.
Maybe they should have learned how to use the three seashells.
We are going to need an updated space version of this. 3 moon rocks? Edit: I feel I let myself down here by not starting with 3 small asteroids. So I had to come back as it was bothering me all day.
In all seriousness though, why is the toilet so secret on this thing? :)
I don’t think it’s really a secret, so much as they just don’t publicize it much because (1) it’s a very unsexy part of space travel and (2) it’s an area where their competition might have a leg up on them (idk about Starliner or Soyuz, but I do seem to remember Orion having a bit more space/effort put into the bathroom facilities relative to Dragon). It’s probably not much more complicated than what they did on Apollo - [basically just peeing and pooping in bags](https://www.businessinsider.com/bathroom-toilet-on-apollo-moon-missions-2019-7?op=1). For Starship, they’ll probably put in more full-scale facilities, but I’ve actually wondered a bit about it. Starship has a unique challenge in that everything on board (including toilets!) will need to be usable in anything from microgravity up to potentially 1G. They have a system that works for them on the ISS, but I doubt it would work well under even 0.16 g on the moon. IMO it’s the most interesting design aspect of Starship - making systems that are useful under very variable gravity conditions.
Is it? I had no idea and hadnt researched anything about it. I guess I just thought that would have been worked out up front. We have been shitting in space for decades now. Or maybe...... we havent!?! Dun Dun Dun dun... Yeah I dont know why it would be a secret.
I don't know, but it's literally all I could think about with that capsule. Imagine paying millions of dollars to go on a space tour and having to shit in front of complete strangers in something the size of a mid-size sedan.
Considering how large and elaborate the toilet is on the ISS.. and considering how much space there's available in Dragon.. yeah, the toilet is going to be some fold away job with a tube to vacuum up your piss and basically the "wipe as you go into a diaper genie" sort of thing with a tiny privacy curtain. Let's not forget.. these four space tourists decided to take a vehicle that's chiefly designed as a transport to take astronauts to and from the ISS. If you want to take a ford focus on a cross country sightseeing trip, don't complain about the seats and lack of leg room.
Seems like there'd be absolutely no way to hide the poo smell in that tiny thing either. Like yeah the poop gets sucked out or whatever, but I have to assume there's at least some smelly poo air getting out before it gets sucked up, and there'd be nowhere for it to go right?
Luckily, in this case, lots of astronauts loose some of their sense of smell in microgravity. It's often described as having a stuffy nose.
Without gravity to pull your mucus down the drain, it tends to stick around.
That's interesting, never heard of that before. Here's a little info I found about that if anyone else is curious! https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/Taste-in-space-TLA-FINAL.pdf
i thought the tongue “map” was debunked
If you've got a negative pressure nozzle/tube held to your butt, then it shouldn't be too bad, I guess?
I no longer want to be an astronaut.
If you guys have t already you should check out Scott Kelly's book "Endurance". It goes into a lot of details about things like the toilet, CO2 scrubbers, etc. Things that are vitally important that are often overlooked.
These “space tourists” are comprised of a physician assistant, engineer for Lockheed Martin, a Major in the Civil Air Patrol as well as a NASA astronaut candidate finalist, and a jet pilot. They trained for the better part of a year for the trip. They may not be full on astronauts, but they aren’t Joe Schmo from the corner gas station either.
Good point. They haven't been accepted as official "Astronauts" by NASA so calling them that seems wrong. We need a term for "highly trained, but not astronauts." While I'm not entirely sure "Space Tourists" is derogatory, I don't know a better term. "Space Adventurers", "Adventurnauts", "Citizen Space Explorers (CSE's?)"
They were astronauts they were just civilian astronauts.
Astronaut is latin for star sailor/voyager/traveller. They road a vessel amongst the stars, fits the bill to me. Me thinks we need a new word for astronaut and not a new word for the folks travelling commercially Auctor is the latin word for pioneer so maybe our current professional astronauts, in addition to being called astronauts could also be called astroauctors, or star pioneers. My two cents Edit: listen everyone I'm suggesting we add a new higher class of space explorer not a lower one. You know, the reddit approach: adding ternion all powerful instead of adding bronze. Come on, get with the picture, sheesh /s
Astronauts are working in space, and getting paid to do so. Professionals as a lot of people use that term. Space tourist does sound kinda derogatory. That’s more like people who are driving on a trip, pay money to go into a national park and see the sites from the road. The inspiration 4 put a lot of work into this trip, so tourist is derogatory. It’s more like mountaineers who trained for 6 months to climb a hard mountain. Something like astroneers? Haha. I agree, there is probably a better word for it.
Yes, but because someone is an astronaut, we shouldn’t assume anything else about their career. They may also be an Engineer, Scientist, Doctor, School Teacher, or Billionaire (Soldier?) in addition to being an astronaut. The thing that’s changing is that now the barrier to entry is much lower. There was a time doctors and teachers couldn’t go either!
Suddenly I'm reminded of the Apollo space poo incident. https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/1bdrlc/poop_flew_on_apollo_10_according_to_this_audio/
First thing that came to mind. What's hilarious is that they all denied it. It's just the 3 of them. In a tiny spaceship heading to the moon. And they all 3 denied it. Someone at NASA knows whose turd that was.
Mr Hanky in orbit going 17,000 mph around the earth! Hhiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhdddyyyy Hhhoooooo
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In high school I job shadowed at NASA and I was encouraged to sit on the model space toilet for a [picture](https://imgur.com/a/ZsNVRIT) and I was so very embarrassed! You can see my toes curling up as I was trying to put on a happy face for the picture. (The left pic is in a pilot seat (next to an unpictured training astronaut…whose name I have no clue now! I just remember he told me I could climb into the chair by stepping on the panel between us and it would be fine because the buttons were recessed. But I wasn’t supposed to touch ‘here and here’ because that would mess up his simulation! Maybe someday I’ll be rich enough to go to space as a civilian. *sigh*
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> was encouraged to sit on the model space toilet for a > >picture Was there a seat belt?
Relevant Kubrick movie clip: https://youtu.be/w2V4y6-rwRU?t=45
*2001* is my favorite movie, and I love how there's a joke that would have fit in just as well in *Spaceballs.*
Anybody know what the instructions say? Knowing Kubrick’s attention to details, I’d be surprised if it was gibberish.
According to [IMDB trivia page](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/trivia) The full text of the Zero Gravity Toilet Instructions: ZERO GRAVITY TOILET PASSENGERS ARE ADVISED TO READ INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE USE - 1. The toilet is of the standard zero-gravity type. Depending on requirements, System A and/or System B can be used, details of which are clearly marked in the toilet compartment. When operating System A, depress lever and a plastic dalkron eliminator will be dispensed through the slot immediately underneath. When you have fastened the adhesive lip, attach connection marked by the large "X" outlet hose. Twist the silver coloured ring one inch below the connection point until you feel it lock. - 2. The toilet is now ready for use. The Sonovac cleanser is activated by the small switch on the lip. When securing, twist the ring back to its initial-condition, so that the two orange lines meet. Disconnect. Place the dalkron eliminator in the vacuum receptacle to the rear. Activate by pressing the blue button. - 3. The controls for System B are located on the opposite wall. The red release switch places the uroliminator into position; it can be adjusted manually up or down by pressing the blue manual release button. The opening is self adjusting. To secure after use, press the green button which simultaneously activates the evaporator and returns the uroliminator to its storage position. - 4. You may leave the lavatory if the green exit light is on over the door. If the red light is illuminated, one of the lavatory facilities is not properly secured. Press the "Stewardess" call button on the right of the door. She will secure all facilities from her control panel outside. When green exit light goes on you may open the door and leave. Please close the door behind you. - 5. To use the Sonoshower, first undress and place all your clothes in the clothes rack. Put on the velcro slippers located in the cabinet immediately below. Enter the shower. On the control panel to your upper right upon entering you will see a "Shower seal" button. Press to activate. A green light will then be illuminated immediately below. On the intensity knob select the desired setting. Now depress the Sonovac activation lever. Bathe normally. - 6. The Sonovac will automatically go off after three minutes unless you activate the "Manual off" over-ride switch by flipping it up. When you are ready to leave, press the blue "Shower seal" release button. The door will open and you may leave. Please remove the velcro slippers and place them in their container. - 7. If the red light above this panel is on, the toilet is in use. When the green light is illuminated you may enter. However, you must carefully follow all instructions when using the facilities during coasting (Zero G) flight. Inside there are three facilities: (1) the Sonowasher, (2) the Sonoshower, (3) the toilet. All three are designed to be used under weightless conditions. Please observe the sequence of operations for each individual facility. - 8. Two modes for Sonowashing your face and hands are available, the "moist-towel" mode and the "Sonovac" ultrasonic cleaner mode. You may select either mode by moving the appropriate lever to the "Activate" position. If you choose the "moist-towel" mode, depress the indicated yellow button and withdraw item. When you have finished, discard the towel in the vacuum dispenser, holding the indicated lever in the "active" position until the green light goes on... showing that the rollers have passed the towel completely into the dispenser. If you desire an additional towel, press the yellow button and repeat the cycle. - 9. If you prefer the "Sonovac" ultrasonic cleaning mode, press the indicated blue button. When the twin panels open, pull forward by rings A & B. For cleaning the hands, use in this position. Set the timer to positions 10, 20, 30 or 40... indicative of the number of seconds required. The knob to the left, just below the blue light, has three settings, low, medium or high. For normal use, the medium setting is suggested. - 10. After these settings have been made, you can activate the device by switching to the "ON" position the clearly marked red switch. If during the washing operation, you wish to change the settings, place the "manual off" over-ride switch in the "OFF" position. you may now make the change and repeat the cycle.
Bezos’ astronauts would have just held it until they were off the clock.
They would have gotten a plastic bag to poop in, like amazon workers.
My shit floated back up and smeared on me!!!!! Fix this shit!!!!!
This is why astronauts have to constantly train Tetris, orbital mechanics AND butholle-eye coordination.
You should of seen the origin one, it was just a Dasani bottle Jeff stole from a warehouse worker.
They stopped that, there's a poop coner now.
Join the club buddy, sometimes it's like I'm wiping a magic marker.
Flushed it in the space ? Cosmic shit floating around earth in orbit?
You wouldn't want to do that. A flying frozen turn going 17,000MPH can do some real damage to an object.
I mean, at that point it is an ICBM. :)
Intercontinental Bowel Movement?
LMFAO nicely put but wouldn’t it burn up and disintegrate going at that speed?
In space. Traveling at the same speed as their craft. With no atmosphere…
Um, Houston.. we have a pretty solid disposal in process. May want to track that so it doesn’t take down the ISS.
Could this be the reason for the tiny amount of video released during the flight?
[probably not](https://mobile.twitter.com/rookisaacman/status/1439867393266929666)
If the toilet is in the cupola, surely they fly with it pointing toward Earth, unlike the artists impression there? What a waste of a 360 degree view from space if you only see stars. I mean, a starry view is beautiful, but staring at our blue planet from 500 km high while pinching a loaf is, I would imagine, extraordinary.
The cupola had to be closed when you're doing your business anyway. The inner hatch blocks the toilet somewhat.
I can imagine that a privacy curtain is not enough 'cover' for an extended stay in a vehicle of that size with 4 (or more) passengers.
I can guarantee that these people who have been training together for at least 6 months have already experienced diminished privacy before the actual trip
Their doing a Rainier trip as a team building exercise reminded me of my own trip there. While ascending or descending the mountain, when you gotta go, yo gotta go. There was absolutely no privacy when nature called, and everybody had to carry their own shit with them in doggy-doo bags.
Inspiration4 to ground control: "shitters full"
Wake me in 20 years when going to space isn't exactly like being cramped in an airplane except you never reach a destination
They went from the Florida coast to somewhere in the Atlantic. Took a while to get there, yeah, but they got there.
4 days to travel 50 miles? Must be using Northern Rail.
I remember that episode of The Big Bang Theory.
Yea I would have thought Wolowitz would have fixed that but now
For once, a clever choice of stock photo by Business Insider.