Every fact you’ve ever wanted to know about peeing and pooing in space – and some you didn’t
Author Mary Robinette Kowal has good reason for knowing all about the trials and tribulations of answering the call of nature in space, and it’s her award-winning character, Elma York, otherwise known as The Lady Astronaut of Mars.
With a lot of people currently obsessed with space travel, due to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon, there’ve been some discussions around women in space, so she decided to share her detailed knowledge, and it’s fascinating.
She got straight to the point.
1.
Let's talk about peeing in space.
Several people, in response to my NY Times essay, have said that women couldn't go into space because we lacked the technology for them to pee in space.
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
The history of space pee was certainly not straightforward.
2.
When the Mercury program was proposed, doctors were worried that people would not be able to urinate or even swallow without the aid of gravity.
And yet, they still made plans to send a man into space.
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
And she reminded us that the best laid plans of mice and NASA can go Pete Tong – in the words of the poet.
3.
When Alan Shepherd became the first American man to go into space, it was scheduled to be a fifteen-minute mission.
Up.
Hello space!
Back down.
They made no plans for peeing.
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
4.
Launchpad delays meant that Shepherd hit a point where he needed to go. Badly.
He asked Mission Control for permission to go in his suit. After consultation with flight surgeons & suit technicians, they gave him permission to do so.
So he wet himself & still went into space.
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
The first attempt at solving the problem didn’t work …
5.
Later, they solved this problem by developing a sheath, that looked much like a condom.
It worked great in testing, but when the actual astronauts used it, the sheath kept blowing off and leaving them with pee in their suits.
Was this about extended time in the spacesuit?
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
because of the fragile male ego.
6.
The sheaths came in small, medium, and large. It turns out, the men were all saying that they needed a Large sheath.
They did not.
Subsequently, the astronauts called the sheaths were called "Extra-large," "Immense," and "Unbelievable."
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
If the pee situation sounds bad, it got a lot worse when poo was involved, as is so often the case.
7.
They had to tape a bag to their ass to poop.
That worked well for Gemini and Mercury. And by well, I mean there was still urine in the capsule and it stank of feces.
Apollo needed a different solution.
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
They went a little more high-tech.
8.
Alas, they still had to poop into a bag, but for peeing, they could slip on a condom attached to a valve, turn the valve and have their urine sucked into the vacuum of space.
If you timed it right.
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
It wasn’t ideal.
9.
Open the valve a fraction too late, and urine escaped to float around the cabin.
Open it too early and the vacuum of space reached through the valve to grab your manhood.
Apparently, the venting of pee into space is very pretty. It catches the sunlight and sparkles.
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
We were all glad to learn that the legend that is Buzz Aldrin had chalked up at least one first.
10.
For the spacewalks, the Apollo astronauts were back to condoms that collected the pee in a bag in the suit.
Buzz Aldrin was the second man on the moon, but the first to pee there.
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
However, the background to Apollo 13’s Fred Haise’s illness had us wincing for the poor guy.
11.
During Apollo13, everyone who has seen the movie knows that Fred Haise got sick. Do you know why, though?
After the accident, they couldn't use the regular vent, because it needed to be heated to keep the pee from freezing.
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
12.
The alternate system caused droplets to float around the ship. Mission Control told them to stop dumping pee.
It wasn't meant to be a permanent ban, but the crew didn't understand that. So they were stashing pee in every bag or container possible.
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
13.
The fastest option was to store it in the collection bags they wore in their suits. Haise kept his on for hours and hours, basically bathing in pee.
He got a UTI and then a kidney infection.
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
The solution they arrived at for women seemed preferable to the chaps’ paraphernalia, what with the tiny condoms and the vacuums and UTIs.
14.
Finally, a decade later, NASA decides to send women into space. NOW they have a reason to come up with how to handle peeing in space if you don't have a penis.
To launch and for a spacewalk, they developed the MAG
Maximum Absorbency Garment.
It's a diaper.
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
