gmv@petfe.UUCP (George Verbosh) (08/29/84)
<>
I'm fairly new to the net, so forgive me if this has been asked before,
but with all the noise about malfunctions on the STS, the toilet seems
to be THE component that fails most often. All this noise has piqued
my curiosity.
HOW does one handle certain, ahem, bodily functions in space?
I would think that lack of gravity would pose some interesting problems,
since you-know-what DOESN'T flow downhill in space.
Also, what do the astronauts do when the toilet breaks? Does having 'the
right stuff' include the ability to 'hold it' for 2 million miles (egads!
remember all those l-o-n-g car trips as a kid? :-))?
(Note for the fainthearted: if you feel the responses to the above
would not constitute family viewing on the net, skip any articles
that refer to the dreaded killer Space Toilet).
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George Verbosh, Perkin-Elmer, 106 Apple St., Tinton Falls, NJ 07724
...{vax135, pesnta}!petsd!petfe!gmvbillp@azure.UUCP (08/30/84)
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There is a very detailed article about the design and operation of the
shuttle toilets in the Sep. 18, 1972 issue of "Design News".
It is very informative and explains how all the problems were solved,
especially how to connect to a female.
The price at that time was quoted as $238,000 a piece.
Bill Pfeifer
{ucbvax,decvax,ihnp4,allegra,uw-beaver,hplabs} !tektronix!tekmdp!billpberry@zinfandel.UUCP (08/31/84)
A possibly apocryphal tale concerns a clipping describing the Space Toilet that Larry Niven sent to Jerry Pournelle (or maybe vice versa, or maybe two entirely different people, it was a long time ago) with the part labelled "Liquid/Solid Separation Impeller" circled with the notation "Jerry: as near as I can figure, the fuvg is SUPPOSED to hit the fan!" My apologies to the two gentlemen involved if I have misattributed the story. -- Berry Kercheval Zehntel Inc. (ihnp4!zehntel!zinfandel!berry) (415)932-6900
atkins@opus.UUCP (Brian Atkins) (09/01/84)
Please, please. I'm dying to know. How does a space toilet work,
and how does it fit to a lady???????
If you all think it's that offensive, rotate it.
Brian Atkins ...{hao, allegra, ucbvax, amd}!nbires!atkinsneal@denelcor.UUCP (Neal Weidenhofer) (09/02/84)
************************************************************************** >Please, please. I'm dying to know. How does a space toilet work, >and how does it fit to a lady??????? Veeeeeeeeeeeeeery Carefully :-) Sorry, just couldn't resist. Regards, Neal Weidenhofer "Nothin' ain't worth nothin' Denelcor, Inc. but it's free" <hao|csu-cs|brl-bmd>!denelcor!neal
alan@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Alan Algustyniak) (09/04/84)
So the toilet is stopped up. So what do you expect? There's a woman on board, isn't there? :-) sdcrdcf!alan :-)
rch@duke.UUCP (Ray C. Houghton) (09/05/84)
According to someone who should know, here's the poop on female waste disposal: "female waste disposal is accomplished via a plastic/impermeable synthetic material which encloses the female perineum and is secured by strong adhesive to the skin; the apex of the collection unit is drained by a tube which can be open or closed - when open, the unit drains into a large central collection unit; this is a modification of a technique used to collect urine from female infants in whom a urinary tract infection is suspected."
alan@sdcrdcf.UUCP (09/06/84)
>"female waste disposal is accomplished via a plastic/impermeable >synthetic material which encloses the female perineum and is >secured by strong adhesive to the skin; It's interesting to think about what a job it must be to get it off.
jsmcginn@uok.UUCP (09/13/84)
The next time you're in a book store, look for a book titled "The
Space Shuttle Operator's Manual". It has a brief, non-technical
explanation on the operation of the 'space toilet'...it even has
pictures!! Gee.
jmark@uf-csg.UUCP (09/19/84)
If you need to indulge in gratuitous, misogynistic aspersions on women, you might confine them to "net.flame," so as not to offend nearly all the readers on the net. Your comment, Alan, is unredeemed even by putative humor.