The last time Nasa ordered up a new toilet was in the early 1990s to accommodate two-week space shuttle missions. The typical space station population will go from six to seven with the next SpaceX flight, and even more when non-professionals such as tourists start showing up as early as next year. “Trust me, I’ve got going to the bathroom in space down, because that is a vital, vital thing to know how to do,” she told the Associated Press earlier this week. While the old design isn’t that hard to use, subtle design changes can make all the difference for women, noted Nasa astronaut Shannon Walker, a former space station resident who is also on the next SpaceX crew. Going to the bathroom in space may sound simple, but “sometimes the simple things become very difficult” without gravity, said Mike Hopkins, a Nasa astronaut and commander of the second SpaceX crew, due to launch 31 October from Kennedy Space Center. Titanium and other tough alloys were chosen for the new toilet to withstand the acid in the urine pretreatment. Urine collected by the new toilet will be routed into Nasa’s longstanding recycling system to produce water for drinking and cooking. Like earlier space commodes, air suction, rather than water and gravity, removes the waste. Until now, it’s been one or the other for female astronauts, she noted. ![]() ![]() Women can use the elongated and scooped-out funnels to urinate while sitting on the commode to poop at the same time, McKinley said. “Let’s just say everything floats in weightlessness.”Īs for No 1, the funnels also have been redesigned. We don’t want any misses or escapes,” she said. The new shape should help astronauts position themselves better for No 2, said Melissa McKinley, the project manager at Johnson Space Center. To better accommodate women, Nasa tilted the seat on the new toilet and made it taller.
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