"And Im sure it will make life much better for the first crew." Especially when one considers that the so-called Expedition One crew will be making a two-day trip up to the station in a Russian spacecraft not equipped with a bathroom.How the commode keeps you down
Now the station toilet will be ready to go when the first crew is ready to go. And heres how it will work:
Located inside a small water closet, the commode is similar to a space shuttle toilet, which has dual thigh bars and foot restraints to keep people from floating off its seat. In order to operate in zero gravity, the commode uses suctioned air to pull waste into a treatment canister below it.
"Its much like you would find on a camper or out on a boat," said U.S. astronaut William Shepherd, commander of the Expedition One crew. "This one is a little bit different though, because its got airflow and that keeps all the waste going in the right direction."
Into the waste container, that is.
Shaped like small drums, the waste containers eventually fill up, so theyll be replaced with empty canisters every three to four weeks. Used canisters will be stored on Russian Progress supply ships, which double as trash trucks that burn up during suicide dives into the atmosphere.
Armed with a video camera, Atlantis pilot Scott Altman took time early Thursday to give viewers a televised peak inside the stations privy, which looks something like an airline lavatory.
The washroom is equipped "with all the facilities -- everything that you need including a mirror on the wall for doing that morning shave and getting ready to go, brushing your teeth and washing your hair," Altman said.
Moments alone
"Theres a privacy door on the bathroom, obviously, to make sure that everybody can have their moments alone."
The orbital plumbing chores kicked off as the
crew cruised toward the midway point of a 12-day shuttle flight.The only hitch so far: one of three batteries the astronauts installed in the stations new living quarters is acting erratically, but project managers say there will be plenty of electrical power to support the first resident crew.
During their latest 16-hour shift, the shuttle crew continued unloading some 6,000 pounds (2,700 kilograms) of supplies and equipment from a Progress cargo carrier and a shipping container in Atlantis cargo bay.
Meanwhile, two Russian spacesuits that will be used by spacewalking station construction workers were unpacked and stowed within the outpost. And the astronauts fired shuttle thrusters in a successful bid to boost the stations altitude by 3 miles (4.8 kilometers), propelling the outpost to an orbit 236 miles (378 kilometers) above the planet.
Still to come: the initial set-up of crucial station life-support systems, such as oxygen-generation machines and carbon dioxide scrubbers. A daylong effort to install an exercise treadmill also is on tap before the shuttle crew departs the station this weekend.
Atlantis and its crew are due to land at Kennedy Space Center at 3:40 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (07:40 GMT) September 20.
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