Astronauts
living aboard the International Space Station (ISS) need help from an orbital
plumber to fix their troublesome space commode.
The solitary
Russian-built
toilet inside the station's Zvezda service module began acting up last
week, forcing U.S. astronaut Garrett Reisman and his two Russian crewmates to
use facilities aboard their docked Soyuz spacecraft before restoring the
commode to partial service. Spare parts for the balky space toilet are set to
launch aboard NASA's shuttle Discovery on Saturday.
"We are
working with the Russians to see what spare parts they'd like us to launch,"
space station flight director Annette Hasbrook told SPACE.com.
Hasbrook
said the toilet is now working in a so-called 'manual mode,' which requires astronauts
to use extra flush water instead of the air flow system as designed. The glitch
only afflicts the toilet's liquid waste collection system, she added.
"It's not
standard operating procedure, but they're able to use it," she added during a
series of televised interviews.
Meanwhile,
a NASA employee is en route from Russia to the agency's Kennedy Space Center in
Cape Canaveral, Fla., with a diplomatic pouch carrying a spare toilet pump, said
Scott Higginbotham, payload manager for the shuttle Discovery's
STS-124 mission.
The pump,
known as a gas-liquid separator assembly, is a 35-pound (16-kg) part about 1.5
feet (about half a meter) long and 8 inches (20 cm) wide and tall.
The spare
part is due to arrive around 10:00 p.m. EDT (0200 May 29 GMT) and be packed
away inside Discovery's middeck early Thursday, Higginbotham said. Shuttle
workers will have to remove spare wrenches, air scrubber equipment and other
items to make room for the last-minute item, he added.
"Clearly, having
a working toilet is a priority for us," Higginbotham said in a morning status
briefing.
Discovery
is slated to launch Saturday at 5:02 p.m. EDT (2102 GMT) on a 14-day mission to
deliver Japan's massive Kibo
laboratory module, an orbital room the size of a large tour bus.
The space station currently has one primary toilet, inside
the Russian built Zvezda module, to support its three-astronaut crew.
NASA has agreed to pay Russia $19 million for a
second space toilet to be installed in the outpost's U.S. segment later
this year. The new toilet, along with extra living quarters and other life
support equipment, will prepare the station for larger, six-person crews
planned for 2009.
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