You think you’ve got plumbing problems? The toilet is broken on the International Space Station, 217 miles from the nearest working commode.
Now that’s a plumbing emergency.
NASA agrees that replacing the toilet motor fan on the space station is a top priority. Without the fan-propelled air needed to guide waste where it needs to go in that zero-gravity environment, it’s going to get, as you might imagine, messy up there. NASA is rushing to get the necessary toilet repair part packed onto the space shuttle Discovery, which is due to launch late Saturday afternoon. Finding room for the new pump meant NASA had to unpack some wrenches, a microbe-killing device — and a spare part for the space station’s oxygen generator. (Gee, hope they don’t need that any time soon.)
When this problem first — ah — surfaced last week, the three-man crew tried to fix it themselves. They’re guys, after all. But that was a no go. Actually, the system for handling solid waste is operable, thankfully. It’s liquid waste that’s a problem. NASA said the astronauts have “temporarily bypassed the problem,” the mechanics of which would qualify as too much information.
Plumbing issues in space may not be very uplifting, but they’re nothing new.
Traveling outside Earth’s atmosphere to faraway planets and stars has captured the human imagination for eons. But mankind’s insatiable quest to conquer new frontiers has, of necessity, required thought about the mundane mechanics of going to the bathroom in space. Ever since Alan Shepard became the first American to blast into space 47 years ago, waste elimination has been right up there as a priority. Nobody at NASA back in 1961 had thought to include a way for the first U.S. astronaut to take care of business, since his historic flight was supposed to last only 15 minutes. But there were delays, and then more delays, and eventually an uncomfortable Shepard was ordered to relieve himself in his suit. Yes, that’s probably too much information as well.
The space station astronauts are making do with a jury-rigged system until the plumbers arrive. Let’s see. Seven astronauts set to launch on Discovery on a Saturday. The shuttle will travel 217 miles to the balky toilet. This is going to require night and weekend work. That’s going to be one humongous plumbing repair bill.
