🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1iibakINNic6@cbl.umd.edu> mike@starburst.umd.edu (Michael F. Santangelo) writes:
>
>But, let me ask (since I don't know the specifics): how well did the
>Skylab toilet work and what does the new $23M Shuttle toilet do that
>the Skylab didn't do?
>
>There is also a reference to the Gemini program in this thread, what did
>they do?
>

Gemini (and Apollo) used a suction hose to collect urine (which was then
dumped overboard) and fecal collection bags for "solid matter".  Fecal
collection bags are hard to use in free-fall so they came with a plastic
glove called the "shit mitt" to help... well, you get the idea.  When
all was said and done, a tablet of bactericide was inserted into the 
bag which was then closed.  The astronaut was then required to knead the
bag to evenly distribute the bactericide amongst the solid matter. 
 
The astronauts like dumping the urine overboard (it froze into tiny
ice crytals which Schirra dubbed the constellation Urinus) but *hated*
the fecal collection bags for obvious reasons.