When you think about environmental controls and life support systems usually we think
about the obvious stuff like breathing and eating and drinking and staying warm but
going to the bathroom in space is life support and honestly it's the number one question that I
get asked during our SpaceX live streams so today let's talk about the Crew Dragon's space toilet
Hey guys Tory here from Overlook Horizon welcome back to two minute Tuesday which
is where we talk about a space or science topic briefly for about two minutes or as
close as I can get to it every Tuesday so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss it
We never make it but just for fun let's put that two minutes on the clock
and let's get to today's two minute Tuesday
So I'm not sure why everyone is obsessed with the toilet functions of the crew dragon but
I suppose maybe it's because it's relatable because we all do it
Going to the bathroom in space has been a constant problem throughout history.
Al Shepard the first man in space in 1961 famously peed his pants, or spacesuit, on the launch pad.
Upgrades in the Apollo program saw urine collection systems that were meant for men
only but they still used a plastic bag for fecal matter NASA actually insisted that the astronauts
bring back their solid waste so they could study it and in fact you can see a full report on all
the Apollo astronauts expulsions I'll put a link in the description if you want to see that
These days we rely on vacuum type space toilets like this one
that was on the Space Shuttle or like this one that is on the International Space Station
Now the short answer is yes the crew dragon has a toilet
It's located behind an access panel that's above the side hatch and kind of on the ceiling but
obviously on the inside of the capsule the best look we've gotten at it so far came during the
Crew-1 mission in this photo where you can see the toilet access panel that's opened up along with
the necessary accessories now SpaceX has been pretty quiet about how exactly everything works
but there are some technical documents and some comments from astronauts which can give
us a little insight into how it works which is very similar to the space shuttle system
You can see here that we've got some waste fans for airflow
a urine collection tank and a waste locker all which lead up to the access panel we saw before
clearly labeled toilet now usually the way this works is a urine collection hose would have an
adapter on the end for men or women and it would vacuum to the urine collection tank
the waste locker would also be a vacuum collection system but it's unclear if the
waste leads directly to the waste locker or to some sort of bagging system that the
astronauts would then manually transfer to the waste locker using another access panel
Now remember your body operates differently in zero g fluids are more evenly distributed
throughout your body and that can cause a quick urge to relieve yourself Space Shuttle astronauts
have reported that literally everyone had to urinate within two hours of getting into orbit
so the toilet was one of the first systems activated when they got to orbit on the
other hand astronauts have also said that it's pretty uncommon for astronauts to feel
the urge to defecate within the first 24 hours while their body is adjusting
So there's a good chance that that portion of the crew dragon toilet
doesn't really get used very often
As far as privacy is concerned there's not much although the astronauts do have a curtain
that they can pull in front of them which is something that we saw on the Crew-1 mission
So that is where I'm gonna wrap up this week's two minute Tuesday. Do you think you could use
a space toilet? Would you be comfortable with that? I don't- I don't know if I could do that
that that might be a deal breaker for me
As always don't forget to click the like button
consider subscribing and I'll see you on the next video
Goodbye
Apollo astronauts even had to knead their fecal matter by hand
Not needing my fecal matter.
It's not happening. No. No.
Hard pass. Hard pass.