Gravity is our friend when going #2 here on earth. Now im sure NASA has it all worked out, but yeah, how do they go #2 in space. I know Im not the first one to ask and won’t be the last. So tell me, do they sit on a suction toilet? Do they launch into a tube? What if they’re are on an EVA? Is it ejected or stored? I have never learned the procedure for this. Thank you.
In space, no one can hear you strain.
I remember watching a video on you tube (Author@GoogleTalks) and the speaker told her stories of her interviews with astronauts and cosmonauts. During Apollo apparently all they used was a plastic bag and “good” aim. Today they have a more sophisticated “toilet” since the plastic bag method did not allow for good seperation.
She also described the testing they did for the new toilet. The first time it was tested they used the vomit comet and a poor guy behind a shroud had to try to go during the 20 seconds the airplane was experiencing weightlessness. After that method failed a human pooping analog was used instead.
But what about toilet paper? If they use it, how is it disposed of or recycled? Or does the technology make the paper unnecessary?
Quite a few answers in this thread: