Space Toilet: A Giant Flush for Womankind

Friday night, while you were watching Donald Trump’s helicopter touch down at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, an Antares rocket lifted off from Wallops Island carrying a $23 million titanium toilet to the International Space Station. The new low-gravity space potty, known as the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS), sports a smaller footprint and improved efficiency, and is equally adapted to the needs of male and female astronauts. As NASA astronauts say, “you go, girl!”

More:

“Finally, a Space Toilet for Ladies,” Amanda Arnold, The Cut

“NASA’s new $30M space toilet is smaller, better smelling and more female-friendly,” CBC Radio

“State-of-the-art space toilet successfully launched into space,” Mark Kaufman, Mashable

“Antares rocket launches new astronaut toilet and more to space station for NASA,” Chelsea Gohd, Space.com

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Image by Mike Licht. Flush Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.

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Space Shuttle’s Last Landing

Just before dawn today, U.S. astronauts folded their tray tables and returned their seats to an upright position as the Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down on Runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center. After five decades, our long National Space Stunt is over. Designed by Dr. Evel Knievel, the U.S. manned space effort sent humans into the cold void of space to definitively prove  … um, that humans could go into space. Perhaps NASA will actually devote some of its funds to science now.

Plumbing the Mysteries of Space

To boldly go where no man has gone before …. Manned space flight presents a unique set of challenges. When you go to into space, sooner or later you have to … well, go. The International Space Station has presented a unique challenge to waste-removal engineers: the zero-gravity toilet.

China’s Space Station

NASA’s famed Evel Knievel Manned Space Program has an Asian rival. The People’s Republic of China is planning to launch a space station. The Tiangong or ‘heavenly palace’ will hurtle towards the heavens within the decade.

The Chinese man-in-space effort began ten years ago, and boasted its first space walk during the 2008 Shenzhou-7 mission. Meanwhile, in Florida, NASA’s antiquated Endeavour space shuttle is back in the shop.

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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