NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson has logged a thumping 665 days in space .
That ’s an American record , and it ’s more fourth dimension in quad than just about anyone else on Earth can claim ( aside from seven Russian cosmonauts . )
She ’s remove her " radiation syndrome limit " she pronounce , and wo n’t be channelise back to the International Space Station again .
This toilet was delivered to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-126 mission in 2008. The Russian-built system cost around $19,000 and can turn crew member urine into potable water.NASA
While it ’s a deplorable fruition for Whitson , who do it a good soberness - free ice-cream float , there ’s one thing she wo n’t overlook about living on the International Space Station : the bathroom .
NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson sometimes has tears in her eyes when she says she wo n’t be endure in to space again .
The former International Space Station boss has logged a humongous 665 drift day in outer space , more than any other American .
It ’s clear from her beaming smile and boisterous , frequent gag that she love nearly every aspect of the out - of - this - world job , from installing assault and battery parts on the station ’s solar panel tosampling occult blank microbe .
" To be a part of exploration in that very unmediated way , " she told Business Insider , is " incredibly satisfying and gratifying . "
But there ’s one aspect of life in space that Whitson says she wo n’t leave out at all : the toilet .
" The space station is not really a hotel yet , " she say Tuesday , her feet firmly planted on the undercoat inside a five - star ( and affluent - toilet equipped ) hotel in New York .
" I would call it a bivouacking trip . "
The toilet on the ISS is not quite as speculative asthe Maximum Absorbency Garment diapersthat astronaut sometimes had to habituate on missions like the Apollo moon trips . But the $ 19,000 Russian - made toilet ( visualize here ) is n’t exactly first class , either .
" Urinating ’s relatively prosperous , " Whitson articulate .
For that , spaceman expend a funnel equipped with a lover thatsuctions their weewee away , so it does n’t float off . ( See the sensationalistic retinal cone on the top ripe side of this toilet photo ? That ’s where the urine goes . ) Then ittakes about eight daysfor the liquidness to become drinking pee again for the astronauts .
But Whitson says that if you have to do more than just urinate , things are n’t so simple .
" Number two … is more intriguing because you ’re trying to hit a pretty low prey , " she said .
ISS residents go to the bathroom into a little plate - sized hole on top of that silver can , using the fan to void - suck the excretory product off . After the astronauts are done , the poop gets sealed up in a shaping grip , to await the next space trash day .
" After it starts stimulate full , " Whitson said with a face , " you have to put a rubber glove on and compact it down . "
Every once in a while , the whole process goes amiss , or the toilet malfunction , and the astronauts have tocatch a floating poop .
But finally , all that waste matter gets blasted off on a freight ship that ’s hole - packed with ISS chalk , and sent on a burn self-destruction commission towards Earth ’s air .
" We air ‘em on a trajectory that will advisedly burn down up , " Whitson say .
As for the urine , about 80 to 85 % of that gets recycled into drinking H2O , and the rest becomes briney waste .
" We want a shut eyelet system , which means we have to reprocess all our water , " Whitson said . Perhaps that ’ll be the next home melioration project onboard the ISS .
you could hear more of Whitson ’s story , from her beginning on an Iowa farm to her journey into the cosmos , on the finale installment of National Geographic ’s " One Strange Rock , " which airsMonday May 28 , at 10 p.m. Eastern on the National Geographic channel .
If you ’re still pose about how the bathroom really works on the ISS , turn back out this explainer video from Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti :
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