In 2007, NASA agreed to pay $19million for a Russian-built toilet system for the International Space Station.
Why was it so expensive? Well, space toilets are like super-special vacuum cleaners.
They need a complex series of pipes and vacuum tubes to suck up waste and dry it out.
The extracted water is recycled, and the waste is stored.
Eventually, it is sent back into Earth’s atmosphere, where it burns up like shooting stars.
The figure may sound astronomical for a toilet in space, but NASA officials said it was cheaper than building their own.
NASA announced it was improving its space toilet system earlier this year, with a new $23million design.
The new design is titanium and is apparently better suited for women.
It is being tested on the International Space Station before eventually going to the moon aboard the NASA Orion capsules.
The toilet used on the Space Shuttle is called the Waste Collection System (WCS). In addition to air flow, it also uses rotating fans to distribute solid waste for in-flight storage.
The Soyuz spacecraft had an onboard toilet facility since its introduction in 1967 (due to the additional space in the Orbital Module), all Gemini and Apollo spacecraft required astronauts to urinate in a so-called "relief tube" in which the contents were dumped into space , while fecal matter was collected in specially-designed bags.
Why was it so expensive? Well, space toilets are like super-special vacuum cleaners.
They need a complex series of pipes and vacuum tubes to suck up waste and dry it out.
The extracted water is recycled, and the waste is stored.
Eventually, it is sent back into Earth’s atmosphere, where it burns up like shooting stars.
The figure may sound astronomical for a toilet in space, but NASA officials said it was cheaper than building their own.
NASA announced it was improving its space toilet system earlier this year, with a new $23million design.
The new design is titanium and is apparently better suited for women.
It is being tested on the International Space Station before eventually going to the moon aboard the NASA Orion capsules.
Solid waste is distributed in a cylindrical container which is then exposed to vacuum to dry the waste.
There are two toilets on the International Space Station, located in the Zvezda and Tranquility modules.
There are two toilets on the International Space Station, located in the Zvezda and Tranquility modules.
They use a fan-driven suction system similar to the Space Shuttle WCS. Liquid waste is collected in 20-litre (5.3 US gal) containers.
Solid waste is collected in individual micro-perforated bags which are stored in an aluminum container. Full containers are transferred to Progress for disposal.
The Apollo Fecal Containment Device, Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham, described how difficult this sticky bag system was to use.
According to Cunningham, crewmembers floated down underneath the seats of the Command Module for a little privacy. There, they proceeded to take off all their clothes (as it was easier) and then affix the device to their backside. The whole ‘show’ took around 45 minutes.
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Source: Daily Mail, Wikipedia
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Source: Daily Mail, Wikipedia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patryn.worldlatestnews
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