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29 May 2008
Nasa has confirmed that the toilet on the International Space Station has failed, leaving astronauts in an urgent need for spare parts.
The problem lies with the fan that draws liquids into the waste chamber prior to being ejected to burn up in the atmosphere.
At the moment solids can be handled by the Russian-made toilet, but liquid disposal is proving impossible.
"Like any home the importance of having a working bathroom is obvious," said Nasa spokesman Allard Beutel.
Waste disposal in space has long been an issue, since gravity-fed toilets do not work in orbit. Instead the waste is sucked from the toilet by air pressure.
Space Shuttle Discovery is due to bring the next module for the Space Station into orbit on Saturday, and officials are considering adding replacement parts to the toilet during the mission.
However, at this late stage this may prove problematic as the load on the Shuttle has already been packed and weight distribution is critical on the flight.
There also may not be room for new equipment, since the Shuttle is carrying a 14,500kg Japanese laboratory which is so large that the Shuttle's robotic arm has had to be removed.
This is not the first time that Nasa has suffered problems with orbital plumbing. In 1984 Shuttle astronauts were forced to urinate into plastic bags and store them on board after fears that an improperly working toilet was causing icicles which were damaging the heat resistant tiles.
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"NASA's Waste is our Waste" or "Hawking, go F Yourself"
Stephen Hawking tells the world we must explore other worlds because we'll destroy this one. Hmmm, let's see, both Biospheres failed, and now we have to fix the Space Station sh*tter? Can you imagine how dependent we will continue to be on this planet when attempting to colonize elsewhere? Too much money is spent on wasteful programs when we should be trying to solve our current problems. Put another way, why waste all the resources and effort colonizing space when if we can't fix our problems here, how will we avoid these same socio-political problems on other planets? Wouldn't we be just as likely to destroy ourselves on other worlds as Hawking claims we'll do here? And to those who say exploration is who we are, don?t forget how exploring leads to conquering. Will you be on the winning side, or be on that spaceship? Who really thinks they?ll qualify for access to limited seats heading for other worlds? Most of us are worthless to the powers that be, and the people in charge are interested because they know they?ll be on those ships, if it happens in their lifetime. As to you and me, we?ll be left here, or shipped off world to be someone?s slave. Lastly, we?re a long way from succeeding in all these ventures, and imagine if there was life similar to ours on other planets; if they?re anything like us, they wouldn?t welcome us, they?d try to kill us, I mean, wouldn?t you? And that?s where the whole romantic fantasy of being a white male got us, kill, rape, pillage, then write about it as if it were a good thing.
Posted by: joshua 29 May 2008