Astronauts are Getting a New Toilet Next Week

By Nancy Atkinson - September 25, 2020 at 1:32 PM UTC | Space Exploration
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When astronauts have to go, NASA wants them to boldly go.

A new space toilet is heading to the International Space Station, with official name "Universal Waste Management System" (UWMS). (If it's NASA, there has to be an acronym). The new toilet is smaller than the current toilets aboard the station, is more user-friendly, and includes 3-D printed titanium parts.

NASA says these are just some of the upgrades that make it better suited for use in future deep space exploration missions. While the new toilet is being installed on the ISS to make life a little better for the space station astronauts, the system will also be tested for use on the new Orion spacecraft, part of the Artemis missions to the Moon.

In hoping to make the new toilet more user friendly, engineers gathered feedback from astronauts and set out to design more comfortable attachments that would make "boldly going" in space a more enjoyable experience. In particular, the new design better meets the needs of female crew members.

Also, the new toilet design will allow for increasing the amount of usable water that can be recovered. Since 2008, astronauts' urine has been chemically treated and processed, which turns it back into potable water that is re-consumed. As former ISS astronaut Don Pettit said, "Yesterday's coffee becomes tomorrow's coffee."

While going to the bathroom in space is just part of life, its also expensive. The new design, built by Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International, cost more than $18 million USD. But, that's a bargain, says fellow space journalist Eric Berger at Ars Technica:

The new toilet is part of a resupply delivery targeted to launch next week, carrying tons of science and supplies up to the orbiting laboratory. Northrop Grumman's Cygnus cargo craft is currently planned for launch on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020 at 10:27 pm EDT with its 14th resupply mission to the International Space Station. If you want to watch the launch, live coverage from Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website, with prelaunch events Monday, Sept. 28, and Tuesday, Sept. 29. See more info and updates here.

Other items on board the ship are a new plant research experiment and a special virtual reality camera designed to immerse you in a spacewalk.

If you want more info about the space toilet, check out the Reddit AMA that was held on Friday, September 25 at 12 pm EDT, at reddit.com/r/space, with Melissa McKinley who leads the NASA team working on the UWMS, and Jim Fuller of Collins Aerospace, and program manager for UWMS.

And then there's this classic description:

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com