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Close Encounters of the Turd Kind
Apollo astronauts contend with floating feces
“Defecation and urination have been bothersome aspects of space travel from the beginning of manned space flight.”
This inescapable observation opens the second chapter of a 1976 NASA report called Biomedical Results of Apollo, which summarized what was learned from biomedical research in the Apollo missions. The report reveals the rather primitive nature of “fecal containment” during the Apollo missions.
Basically, during flight astronauts used “a plastic bag which was taped to the buttocks to capture feces.” Yet it isn’t that simple in space. One astronaut estimated the process took about 45 minutes. During lunar surface activity and spacewalks the “containment system” was also basic but more customary: “a pair of undershorts with layers of absorbent material,” i.e., a space diaper. (NASA’s current technical name is “the Maximum Absorbency Garment.”)
“The collection process required a great deal of skill to preclude escape of feces from the collection bag and consequent soiling of the crew, their clothing, or cabin surfaces,” NASA noted. The May 1969 Apollo 10 mission, a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 moon landing, demonstrated that astronauts could, in fact, have close encounters of the turd kind.
