Whuh oh. Seems the only toilet on the ISS is busted and they can’t get a plumber out there until next week. Astronauts aboard the space station have been able to impose upon the nearby Russian Soyuz spacecraft, using its limited-capacity toilet in a pinch, and have now apparently rigged some sort of sack-like contraption to the toilet on the ISS. Sounds delightful.
The good news is that the problems are only occurring when going number one. The astronauts can go number two just fine, Lord o’ Mercy.
“While one of the crew was using the Russian-made toilet last week, the toilet motor fan stopped working, according to NASA. Since then, the liquid waste gathering part of the toilet has been working on-and-off.
Fortunately, the solid waste collecting part is functioning normally.”
Space Shuttle Discovery is set to launch this Saturday and will meet up with the crew at the ISS on Monday. NASA is “considering having some parts flown to Cape Canaveral, Florida, and placed in the shuttle during its countdown,” which is apparently a bit dangerous. After everything else has already been weighed and balanced, any extra weight could throw off initial calculations.
Come on, though. You gotta fix the toilet, right? That, or hang a sign above it saying “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.”
UPDATE: The Associated Press is reporting that NASA will be sending a special pump up with Space Shuttle Discovery to fix the broken toilet. Flush away, boys. Flush away.
Oof…that would be harsh. Maybe they can have a “hold your pee for a wii” contest to encourage the astronauts from going to the bathroom. Too bad they can’t go outside on the porch and just let it fly.
….or water the plants….
I was wondering what that yellow rain was.
O.o you confused number 1 and number 2. 2=poop.
Good point. Nice attention to detail which is missing from article. By the way, there would be no “yellow rain” but rather a yellow mist as liquids form globes in zero gravity and split upon contact into smaller and smaller and smaller until the the entire atmosphere is “pissed”.
you can’t be serious
Mom, I don’t think I wanna be an astronaut after all…
I have a great idea, why can’t a machine discovered that takes the yellow water and converts into space station fuel :)
As of now, I have no idea how all the #1 and # 2 is being handled in the station. Are they droping it directly into earth when the shuttle returns ?
Basically, one of the robot Soyuz vehicles gets stuffed full of all kinds of waste products from the ISS, from styrofoam packing to body wastes, when it is full, it is sent back down to Earth to make room for the next robot cargo delivery. When a shuttle is docked, wastes are stowed in the cargo bay until the return flight.
I will poop on my head and eat the monkey tail!
Cannot they just go outside to take crap??
in their space suit…. sure!
Since the ISS is the pioneer of space exploration and a colony of Mother Earth, it is only fitting that the ISS is in need of a “Super Duper Pooper Scooper.”
I am the former tech writer for the Nike missiles series, parts of the Atlas missile system, and procedures for recovery of the shuttle booster tank.
Tony Stephen
they really ought to have a poo fight so they don’t over use the toilet. americans vs. russians. russians would probably win with all that sausage and vodka and potatos, but we’d put up a good fight with all our weird genetically-engineered food. they could wear diapers if that didn’t work. i wear a diaper with an atlas missle system.
Call in the high $ blue collar boyz!
They should just connect a hose directly to the outside to their Buttholes
evidently, the seal on the fan motor was compromised. The fan motor provides the sucking power within the toilet. The original and intended purpose is to keep urine from moving backward toward the body and throughout the station during normal unination, however during an extended stay in space with an absence of scantily clad attractive women, an astronaut (who shall remain nameless) was attempting to adjust the power output of the fan to suit his personal needs. The voltage in the fan motor assembly is now unstable, as the voltage regulator / modulator unit was broken after moving the power level past acceptable limits.
ISS Director was heard as asking the medical officer “jeesus, why aren’t we giving these guy’s salt peter?”
cowboyz and indianz, man. drop yer draws and let out the poopy. straight up. ya gotta do yer bizniss when ya gotta. i love it when ya call me big poopa. throw ya pee in the air if you’s a true player!