How to go to the toilet in space?Here are detailed explanations

À quoi pourrait ressembler notre planète de l’extérieur ? Quelle est la sensation d’un voyage dans l’espace, en dehors de l’atmosphère terrestre ? Ces questions sont les plus courantes lorsque nous sommes allongés sur notre fauteuil à la maison, mais pour un astronaute au bord de la Station spatiale internationale (ISS), d’autres problèmes sont plus urgents, aller aux toilettes, par exemple.

Chris Cassidy, commander on board the ISS, explains the functioning of the toilets inside it, but before detailing this, a small anecdote is essential.

NASA had provided all the necessary preparations for Apollo space missions, however, aware of the first days, the organization failed to think of a means for the first American space to do its needs.Even if the trip promised to be short, the delay before the launch and the wait on the dashboard caused an urgent desire to go to the sanitary facilities.

Before the Apollo 12 mission, and the invention of new ways to relieve themselves, astronauts used collection bags to go to the toilet during long trips.As for excrement, they used a fecal bag, positioning it on the anus using a "finger".

To urinate, it was a question of inserting the penis into a tube, whose rubber end recalls a condom.However, this method has many drawbacks, due to the dimensioning problems in space.

These techniques are adapted to the spatial interior environment, but what is it once outside?The FCS, or fecal containment system, is a "pair of underwear with absorbent properties", specially designed to be worn under the liquid cooling combination.In other words, the first man having landed on the moon wore a layer.

Today, things are no longer as they were before, spacecraft is better suited, in order to offer all the conditions and amenities of a cosmic trip.An appropriate bathroom was designed at the edge of the ISS, thus abandoning the concept of the sheath.

In fact, in his video, Commander Chris Cassidy explains the operation of the device, with all the precautions to be taken, is surprising, this technology costs no less than $ 23 million.Definitely, for a space trip, the back of the medal is much less glamorous!