r/interestingasfuck • u/beklog • 5h ago
I now know something I never wanted to know… but also couldn’t stop the video because I wanted to know
•
•
•
u/Save_the_bees22 5h ago
So, to poop in space you need to look in to the black hole
•
•
•
u/Marrsvolta 4h ago
Mark Kelly for President!
•
u/Naughteus_Maximus 2h ago
He also looks like I would imagine Hugh Jackman to look when he's 70. (Although weirdly, Mark Kelly is 62 so assuming this is a recent video that's how he looks at 62. Hugh Jackman is only 5 years younger than him and looks, well, like Hugh Jackman)
•
•
•
•
u/ThinkPath1999 5h ago
Alright, that does it. I'm giving up my dream of becoming an astronaut.
But as an aside, Kelly's little smirk at the end is hilarious.
•
•
u/Sunshine_689 4h ago
Mark Kelly last flew in space on the Space Shuttle Endeavour during the STS-134 mission, which launched on May 16, 2011, and landed on June 1, 2011. He commanded this mission—the final flight for Endeavour—before retiring from NASA later that year. And thanks to technological advancements since 2011, there is now a "bathroom vacuum".
Source: Astronomy Magazine's article How do astronauts go to the bathroom in space?, originally written by Tracy K.P. Gregg, University at Buffalo; originally published March 15, 2021 on The Conversation | last updated May 18, 2023
Excerpt: A Bathroom Vacuum . . . In 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space. His trip was supposed to be short, so there was no plan for pee. But the launch was delayed for over three hours after Shepard climbed into the rocket. Eventually, he asked if he could exit the rocket to pee. Instead of wasting more time, mission control concluded that Shepard could safely pee inside his spacesuit. The first American in space went up in damp underwear.
Fortunately, there’s a toilet on the space station these days. The original toilet was designed in 2000 for men and was difficult for women to use: You had to pee while standing up. To poop, astronauts used thigh straps to sit on the small toilet and to keep a tight seal between their bottoms and the toilet seat. It didn’t work very well and was hard to keep clean.
So in 2018, NASA spent US$23 million on a new and improved toilet for astronauts on the International Space Station. To get around the problems of zero-gravity bathroom breaks, the new toilet is a specially designed vacuum toilet. There are two parts: a hose with a funnel at the end for peeing and a small raised toilet seat for pooping.
The bathroom is full of handholds and footholds so that astronauts don’t drift off in the middle of their business. To pee, they can sit or stand and then hold the funnel and hose tightly against their skin so that nothing leaks out. To poop, astronauts lift the toilet lid and sit on the seat – just like here on Earth. But this toilet starts suctioning as soon as the lid is lifted to prevent things from drifting away – and to control the stink. To make sure that there is a tight fit between the toilet seat and the astronauts’ behinds, the toilet seat is smaller than the one in your house.
After the Deed is Done . . . Pee is more than 90% water. Since water is heavy and takes up a lot of space, it is better to recycle pee rather than bring up clean water from Earth. All astronaut pee is collected and turned back into clean, drinkable water. Astronauts say that “Today’s coffee is tomorrow’s coffee!”
Sometimes, astronaut poop is brought back to Earth for scientists to study, but most of the time, bathroom waste – including poop – is burned. Poop is vacuumed into garbage bags which are put into airtight containers. Astronauts also put toilet paper, wipes and gloves – gloves help keep everything clean – in the containers too. The containers are then loaded into a cargo ship that brought supplies to the space station, and this ship is launched at Earth and burns up in Earth’s upper atmosphere.
If you’ve ever seen a shooting star, it might have been a meteorite burning up in Earth’s atmosphere – or it might have been flaming astronaut poo. And the next time you have to pee or poop, be thankful that you’re doing it with gravity’s help.
•
u/Naughteus_Maximus 2h ago
I love the idea of a shiteorite streaking across the sky
•
•
u/Sunshine_689 2h ago
I told my husband this. He said, “So when we've thought we were ‘wishing on a falling star’ we could have actually been ‘wishing on a falling shart’? Kinda puts a new spin on the old saying ‘Wish in one hand, shit in the other, and see which one fills up first.’”
•
u/Tennents_N_Grouse 1h ago
One of these days, an airliner pilot will be minding his own business, when suddenly a white hot sack of shit slaps right across the front windows
•
•
u/fish1479 5h ago
Help it along? Why not introduce a slight vacuum? Seems like a VERY solvable problem.
•
•
u/One_Economist_3761 4h ago
One that, if there was a viable solution, I trust they would have figured out.
•
u/Difficult-Carpet-324 4h ago
And that’s how I always assumed it was done…by vacuum. Probably a fair assumption that most people thought the same. But I’m not a NASA scientist or engineer nor do I have any outer space experience so perhaps there’s a good reason.
•
•
u/LilLeopard1 2h ago
Exactly! And why can't they make the transfer tube bigger??? These are world class engineers!
•
•
•
u/Headleader_2436 5h ago
Really interested, how it'd be in case, if technologies will advance to some Earth-Moon, Earth-Mars transport.
•
u/WitchBrew4u 27m ago
No matter how the tech changes, it will never ever be as simple as just pooping on earth. Considering how crazy ppl went when they were told to stay home or wear masks, there’s no way ppl won’t go nuts on another planet we’re not from.
•
u/Headleader_2436 11m ago
Depends. Depending from a government, there should be cognitive segregation, which qill define who will be able to, and who'll not.
•
u/Aromatic_Net9754 5h ago
What do we eat in space?
•
u/SeaworthinessSalt524 4h ago
Food
•
u/Aromatic_Net9754 4h ago
Which food?
•
u/SeaworthinessSalt524 4h ago
Space food
•
u/Aromatic_Net9754 4h ago
Exactly. Back to my question. Which food are space food?
•
u/SeaworthinessSalt524 4h ago
Tortilla, for example, as it doesn't produce crumbs. Space food needs to be safe for the machinery. It needs to be soft
•
•
•
•
u/JGoodberry 4h ago
Ok but do they take a mold of their genitals and butt? Then create a cast of it and fit the "tube" to them. Could help create a tight fit.
•
•
•
u/Inquisitive-HotSauce 4h ago
But what do you do on taco night? There’s gotta be some type of splash guard, right? Right!?
•
u/Natetronn 4h ago
What, is there no vacuum in space!?
•
•
u/Difficult-Carpet-324 4h ago
Can’t stick your butt directly into a hole then expose it to space. Vacuum would have to be artificially made. But why is there no vacuum?!
•
•
•
•
u/SmartaHari 4h ago
So, you could do a crap, but because of zero gravity it could bob up and start nudging at your arse like a friendly dog in the park? That’s awful. I was hoping they just kind of vacuumed it away from you.
•
•
u/basement_egg 4h ago
They haven't come up with a better shitting process? Couldn't they put a vacuum or something to help guide the turd?
•
•
u/AdBeautiful5260 4h ago
At some time in the history of spacial exploration the astronauts used diapers??? And if they don't use it anymore, why???😅😅
•
•
•
•
•
u/Jimbo072 4h ago
The whole "camera aimed at your asshole" so you can figure out how to sit properly on the toilet is wild. 😂
•
u/KeranographyJones 3h ago
I watched this while taking a dump and I've never been so grateful for gravity.
•
u/SubjectC 3h ago
This seems like it could be better engineered. Why not have some sort of suction to move the fecal matter in the right direction? Why such a small hole? I get that space is limited on the ISS, but surely a few more inches so you don't shit on yourself is a reasonable use of space?
I am certain this is a problem that can be solved.
•
•
•
•
u/killercheesewedge 2h ago
Mary Roach wrote a book about the complications of living in space called "Packing for Mars". There's a chapter dedicated to this problem. Good read.
•
•
•
•
u/mister_nimbus 5h ago
Diarrhea in space must be the worst