Page last updated at 21:12 GMT, Sunday, 19 July 2009 22:12 UK

Space station toilet breaks down

Toilet (Nasa)
The $100bn ISS has been blighted by toilet trouble


Mission Control told the crew to hang an "out of service" sign until the toilet can be fixed.

The crew of the shuttle Endeavour is confined to using the craft's loo. ISS residents are using a back-up toilet in the Russian part of the station.

If repairs fail, Apollo-era urine collection bags are on hand, Nasa said.

"We don't yet know the extent of the problem," flight director Brian Smith told reporters, adding that the toilet troubles were "not going to be an issue" for now.

Bad plumbing?


ISS, July 17 (Nasa)

It had broken down once before, requiring a rush delivery of a replacement pump by the shuttle Discovery in 2008.

And another toilet-related row broke out earlier this year, when a Russian cosmonaut complained that he was no longer allowed to use the US toilet because of billing and cost issues.

Despite the latest housekeeping setback, astronauts managed to transfer spare parts from the shuttle Endeavour to the ISS on Sunday, the second day of a planned 11-day mission.

Nasa was also investigating why Endeavour's tank shed an unusually large amount of insulating foam during its launch.

Print Sponsor

Shuttle crew welcomed aboard ISS
18 Jul 09 |  Science & Environment
'Toilet row' lowers space morale
31 Mar 09 |  Special Reports
Space station crew repair toilet
04 Jun 08 |  Science & Environment
Toilet trouble for space station
29 May 08 |  Americas
How do you 'go' in space?
10 May 07 |  Magazine

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

Has China's housing bubble burst?
How the world's oldest clove tree defied an empire
Why Royal Ballet principal Sergei Polunin quit


Sign in

BBC navigation



Americas Africa Europe Middle East South Asia Asia Pacific