Energy News  
Toilet breaks at International Space Station

by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) May 28, 2008
It's bad enough when the toilet gets clogged at home; it could be a lot more serious in space, especially with visitors on the way.

NASA said Wednesday that the liquid waste handling function of the toilet at the International Space Station (ISS) had malfunctioned the day before and that the three astronauts aboard had to use the toilet at the Soyuz capsule moored at the station.

Eventually the two Russians and one American at the orbiting station were able to fix up a "urine bypass" on the ISS toilet, located on the Zvezda module, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.

NASA spokeswoman Nicole Cloutier told AFP that the space shuttle Discovery, scheduled to arrive at the ISS Monday with seven astronauts aboard, would be carrying toilet parts to help repair the station's prickly plumbing.

"It's not really an emergency, they have many options available if they need," Cloutier said from the Johnson Space Center in Texas.

"There is another toilet ready to fly in the fall, in order to have two toilets on board for when they'll have the expanded crew of six" at the ISS, she said.

"There also other devices if they really need to ...kinds of bags," she added.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Station at NASA
Station and More at Roscosmos
S.P. Korolev RSC Energia
Watch NASA TV via Space.TV
Space Station News at Space-Travel.Com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


NASA: Space station view is good this week
Washington (UPI) May 20, 2008
The U.S. space agency says this is a good week to get "an incredible view" of the International Space Station flying 220 miles above the Earth.







The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement