Space station astronauts fix broken toilet: NASA
July 20, 2009NASA avoided a rather messy situation in space Monday after giving astronauts aboard the International Space Station the green light to use a toilet after crew members worked for a day to repair it.
"The US Destiny lab toilet has been repaired and checked out. The crew has been given a "go" to use it. All three toilets are working," NASA said in a post to the micro-blogging website Twitter.
The toilet malfunction on Sunday came just days after the seven-person crew aboard the space shuttle Endeavour arrived at the space station, bringing the total number of people on the ISS to a record 13.
The toilet was likely flooded earlier in the day when its dose pump failed after running for about 15 minutes, NASA officials said.
The crew members Gennady Padalka and Frank De Winne were charged with repairing the defective toilet with spare parts on the orbiting outpost.
On Monday, forty years exactly since NASA historic Apollo 11 mission to place man on the moon, astronauts on the ISS installed an antenna to communicate with Earth.
(c) 2009 AFP
-
Astronauts deal with flooded toilet in orbit
Jul 19, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Spacewalk No. 2 unfolds on 40th moon anniversary
Jul 20, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
ISS crew prepares for arrival of visitors
Aug 08, 2007 |
not rated yet |
0
-
ISS crew prepares for a spacewalk
Jul 17, 2007 |
not rated yet |
0
-
New Crew Blasts Off for International Space Station
Oct 13, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Titan's lack of impact craters
Feb 09, 2012
-
Real pictures of black hole eating a star?
Feb 08, 2012
-
Hypothetical way to travel faster than light, but not technically exceed lightspeed
Feb 06, 2012
-
How do scientists monitor the Sun's activity?
Feb 05, 2012
-
Search patterns in observational studies
Feb 05, 2012
-
Derivation of Pogson's law
Feb 03, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - General Astronomy
More news stories
Humans may have helped the decline of African rainforests 3000 years ago
(PhysOrg.com) -- Large areas of rainforests in Central Africa mysteriously disappeared over three thousand years ago, to be replaced by savannas. The prevailing theory has been that the cause was a change ...
10 hours ago |
5 / 5 (4) |
10
|
Could Venus be shifting gear?
(PhysOrg.com) -- ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft has discovered that our cloud-covered neighbour spins a little slower than previously measured. Peering through the dense atmosphere in the infrared, the ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
6 hours ago |
5 / 5 (5) |
7
|
Mars Science Laboratory computer issue resolved
(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers have found the root cause of a computer reset that occurred two months ago on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and have determined how to correct it.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
7 hours ago |
5 / 5 (5) |
3
|
Clam fields found at deep, low-temperature Mariana vents
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have marveled at the unusual life forms thriving at high temperature hydrothermal vents of the deep ocean.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
7 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
Two new moons for Jupiter
Advances in technology have lead to the discovery of new planets outside of our Solar System, and now even new moons in our own backyard.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
6 hours ago |
not rated yet |
4
Complex wiring of the nervous system may rely on a just a handful of genes and proteins
Researchers at the Salk Institute have discovered a startling feature of early brain development that helps to explain how complex neuron wiring patterns are programmed using just a handful of critical genes. ...
The power of estrogen -- male snakes attract other males
A new study has shown that boosting the estrogen levels of male garter snakes causes them to secrete the same pheromones that females use to attract suitors, and turned the males into just about the sexiest ...
Human cognitive performance suffers following natural disasters, researchers find
Not surprisingly, victims of a natural disaster can experience stress and anxiety, but a new study indicates that it might also cause them to make more errors - some serious - in their daily lives. In their upcoming Human Fa ...
New error-correcting codes guarantee the fastest possible rate of data transmission
Error-correcting codes are one of the triumphs of the digital age. They’re a way of encoding information so that it can be transmitted across a communication channel — such as an optical fiber o ...
Both maternal and paternal age linked to autism
Older maternal and paternal age are jointly associated with having a child with autism, according to a recently published study led by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
Curry spice component may help slow prostate tumor growth
Curcumin, an active component of the Indian curry spice turmeric, may help slow down tumor growth in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients on androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a study from researchers ...
Jul 21, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
When viewing the smiling faces of talented astronauts, it is easy to forget the routine difficulties encountered by those poor souls when they are so far away from the everyday conveniences of our comfortable lives here on planet Earth.
With kind regards,
Oliver K. Manuel