To boldly go...

I’m not sure what is the most disturbing revelation from this little byway in the history of space exploration, but you can take your pick:

* Over the past five years, NASA has spent US$60 million delivering water to the International Space Station on the space shuttle (6 tons at a cost of about US$40,000 per gallon).

* The world’s first sub-orbital flight was executed by a man who had just wet himself.

* The Gemini and Apollo astronauts wore plastic bags taped to their buttocks. After defecation, the crew member was required to seal the bag and knead it, mixing in a liquid-bactericide to provide the desired degree of 'faeces stabilization.' (Why didn’t we see THIS on ‘Apollo 13’?)

* The first men to walk on the moon stepped onto the lunar surface wearing nappies.

* Astronauts are drinking their own piss. (Maybe we should be sending them barrels of mouth wash as well?)

* Poo and wee is, as we speak, orbiting the earth.


Astronauts discover deposits of frozen urine on Mars.