Next Time You Wish On A Shooting Star, It May Just Be Astronaut Poop
Astronaut Chris Hadfield revealed how feces is disposed of in space and it might surprise you.
In a chat at Ontario Science Centre, Astronaut Chris Hadfield answered the frequently asked, "How do you go to the toilet in space?"
First off, the Canadian known worldwide for his cover of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' from the International Space Station, Hadfield explains that the lack of gravity makes using the bathroom a problematic issue in zero gravity environment.
"Imagine if you were halfway done, and somebody shut off gravity." Explained Hadfield, "It would be a mess. And you'd float off the toilet."
Hadfield goes on the describe the tubes, air pressure systems, and seat belts that are involved in relieving yourself in space but the real kicker was how the feces is disposed of.
"[E]verything that comes out of your body gets pulled out into the toilet by the air, and then in the storage tank, we just expose that to the vacuum of space. So it basically just freeze-dries everything,
so it kills all the bacteria, so that there's no smell, and then we just store it."
"And when you have a whole bunch of it stored, we put it in a little unmanned supply ship, and we undock it, and it burns up in the atmosphere." Hadfield continued, "So the next time you see
a beautiful shooting star going across the sky, that's what it might be."
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