Washington - One of the enduring annoyances for astronauts in space is that when there are potty problems, the whole world knows. With an all-time record of 13 astronauts at the International Space Station right now, NASA announced Sunday that one of the two facilities broke down.
That leaves only one, the Russian Zvezda bathroom, and it's been
set aside for the permanent station residents. The seven-member Endeavour shuttle crew must float back through the tunnel to the spacecraft parked outside to use their own toilet, NASA said.
The toilet in the US Destiny laboratory conked out after running for about 15 minutes - some of the "pre-treat flush water" may have flowed somewhere "it should not be," NASA said.
Repairs are to be carried out with objects currently in orbit.
The most previous potty problem was the urine recycling system which took more than six months to get up and running. In May, the space travellers gave a wry toast when they got the word from Earth that the reprocessed water was safe to drink.
The system is necessary to support the six astronauts in permanent residence at the International Space STation at any one time. The number doubled in May when the station expansion was finished.
Since May, each of the five partner space agencies - from the US, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada - has had crew members living together for the first time. pa pr
192259 GMT Jul 09
