I got to visit the Kennedy space center last Monday, a dream of mine since childhood. It was all interesting from the bus tour to the VAB and LC-39A launch pad to the visitor’s center though some of the exhibits were a bit Toontownish.
I got a look at the Gemini capsule which seems barely larger than the Mercury. Barely enough room for two astronauts and the seats are angled away from each other so both have a bit of shoulder room. A quote from one of the astronauts said there wasn’t even room to stretch one’s legs. Not a good place for somene claustrophobic. Gemini VII was up for nearly 14 whole days. That is a long time and I don’t recall seeing room for facilities and I don’t think the pressure suits in use at that time had a trapdoor. I know they must have had an ultra low bulk diet but some body waste has to be produced in 14 days. Did they just put a cork in it or retrun to earth with an atomic case of diaper rash?
This article doesn’t go into the scatological details but it does indicate that Lovell and Borman each removed their suits repeatedly. (It sounds amazing, as the amount of space is significantly less than the front seat of a VW Bug, but apparently true.) So I’m guessing that they used some form of, uh, “sandwich bags” and bedside urinal to assist in the disposal of bodily wastes. Still, after fourteen days of two guys stuck together in a phone booth-sized living space, that thing must have been ripe. I’m guessing the first thing the recovery crew did was strip these guys down and spray them off before letting them go below.
"I was impressed like everyone when man began to fly
out of earthly regions to planets in the sky
with total media coverage we watched the heroes land
as ceremoniously they disturbed the cosmic sand
I awe with admiration we listened to the talk
such pride felt they, such joy to be upon the moon to walk
my romantic vision shattered when it was explained to me
spacemen wear old diapers in which they shit and pee
…
you may well ask now what becomes of liquid they consume a pipe is led from penis head to a unit in the room
the water is recirculated, filtered for re-use
in case of anti-gravity, pee gets on the loose"
From Donovan Leitch, on the album Cosmic Wheels, 1973
Bullshit, a fact-finding sort of show by Penn and Teller, makes a brief reference to a plastic bag with an adhesive ring that early astronauts would put their bowl movements in. Don’t know if it’s true for the Gemini mission. Maybe for urine too? Or maybe they cathaterized themselves like the song above suggests.
I’ve heard them called “Apollo bags” and they’re essentially plastic baggies with an adhesive opening you slap on your backside, then seal up after you’re done filling them.
They’re still carried as backup on spaceflights, and on spacestations, just in case the zero-g toilets malfunction.
They’re also used here on Earth during long-distance endurance flights in aircraft that don’t have toilets.
Read a book on the Voyager round-the-world-without-refueling flight where this sort of thing is also discussed. There’s also a passage where Dick Rutan talks about being in the middle of taking a crap in the back of a very cramped airplane when Jeanna Yeagar calls him up front to deal with some sort crisis. After that’s taken care of they realize that Dick, on his way forward, had stuck the baggie on the roof of the cabin and they still had a bag o’ crap stuck to the ceiling despite all the jouncing around they had just been through. So the stick-um must be pretty decent on those things.
The baggie system was used for solid waste, and was not well liked by the astronauts. It adhered quite well to your rear, and pulled hairs off when it was removed (that’s a lovely, thought, isn’t it?). You also had to reach around and tug the crap out of you, since there was no gravity assist. :eek: Urine was handled by the use of a condom which was connected to a hose with a valve on the end of it. When you opened the valve, you were exposing the end of your weenie to the vacuum of space! :eek: :eek: :eek: On the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions, the crew would dispose of the fecal bags while in space by ejecting them, so there’s presently astronaut poop floating around up there (IIRC, the shuttle toilet is designed so that it stores the waste for later disposal, and doesn’t immediately send it into space), and at least one fellow has theorized that one day it could be the source for life on some other planet when it reaches it in some far distant future.
I wonder if this is accurate.
In my classes (way too many years ago) I was taught that there were muscles in your colon that moved the contents along (peristalsic action?), and that there were additional muscles (spincter, etc.) that controlled expelling of the wastes. Wouldn’t these muscles still work in zero-gravity situations? Possibly without the assist of gravity, they would require extra ‘straining’, but I’d think they would still function.
I know this works for urine. The muscles to empty your bladder work fine, with gravity, without gravity, even against gravity. You can pee just fine when upside down, workig against gravity. I can even provide a cite for this: Richard Feynman, “Surely you’re joing, Dr. Feynman”.
Uh, urine is under pressure, and is a liquid body, whereas feces is generally solid clumps. Or to put it simply: urine is water coming out of a garden hose, while feces is ping pong balls being squeezed down a tube.
I’m calling BS on Tuckerfan, too. Didn’t you ever see the episode of Mr. Wizard where he has a girl stand on her head and eat bits of apple, proving conclusively that digestive movements are not gravity dependant? Sheesh
I’m also not so sure about the penis exposed to vacuum bit. The urine tube connected directly to the outside of the ship? It seems like this would damage the end of the penis after a couple uses, unless the guy can pee really fast.
If it’s ping pong balls being squeezed down a tube, then why isn’t the squeezing considered pressure? Feces is under pressure. That whole peristaltic action bit. The pressure is what squeezes it out. If you’ve ever rectally palpated a cow, you’ll know just how much pressure. Gravity might help, but the main source of work is provided by the muscles.
Okay, so the grabbing bit was really more of an assist in case the sphinter wasn’t able to provide that last little push to get your feces away from your body.
And the urine mechanism was more than just a direct line to the outside. The tubing only pulled on you if you opened it too soon.
There was no assist. It just “popped out” of you and sat there.
If you’ll notice, I gave an accurate description of the urine mechanism the first time. The only thing I didn’t mention was the fact that the valve could grab your weenie.
But if ya’ll are willing to pass the hat to the tune of $200,000 I’m willing to make the sacrifice of taking a trip on Virgin Galactic.
Either that, or if someone knows how to sweet-talk Burt Rutan into letting borrow a space ship…
Yes, I am willing to go up into microgravity, crap, and report back to ya’ll about the procedure in minute details. Clearly, this is research NASA is not willing to make public, even thought the public wants to know - shameful, if you ask me.
*Urine was handled by the use of a condom which was connected to a hose with a valve on the end of it. When you opened the valve, you were exposing the end of your weenie to the vacuum of space! *
What sort of adaptions had to be made for the female cosmonauts - obviously the “condom to space” system wouldn’t suit.
