🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <schumach.726431013@convex.convex.com> schumach@convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher) writes:

>Uhhh... why didn't NASA just reuse the Skylab toilet on Shuttle?

Because the Skylab toilet was just a large outhouse in orbit.  The system
was a very low tech, based on the astronauts filling up plastic bags and
chucking them into the waste storage area.

The Skylab living quarters were built into the area of the Saturn V normally
used for the hydrogen tank in the second stage.  The oxygen tank area was
where the garbage was stowed.  Skylab was never intended to be used enough
to fill the entire waste disposal area with waste.

The toilet on the shuttle was supposed to be a major breakthrough in
orbital waste management.  The collected human byproducts were supposed
to be dessicated in the vacuum of LEO and (devoid of significant volume)
discharged into orbit.

You think the STS toilet is expensive?  Take a look at the head aboard
Fred.  Last I heard, there were two competing designs; NASA was not
expected to endorse either, but rather combine both designs.

BTW, does anyone have the text of the toilet instructions on _2001_?  I
recall that a still was reproduced in the book of the movie.

-ethan