{"id":22374,"date":"2010-06-27T08:09:03","date_gmt":"2010-06-27T08:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/buzz-aldrin-explains-how-to-take-a-whiz-on-the-moon-discoblog\/"},"modified":"2010-06-27T08:09:03","modified_gmt":"2010-06-27T08:09:03","slug":"buzz-aldrin-explains-how-to-take-a-whiz-on-the-moon-discoblog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/astronomy\/buzz-aldrin-explains-how-to-take-a-whiz-on-the-moon-discoblog.php","title":{"rendered":"Buzz Aldrin Explains: How to Take a Whiz on the Moon | Discoblog"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"144832main_aldrin_bootprint\"<\/a>Charged with writing to an astronaut, a five-year-old boy asked a burning question: How do you pee and poop in your astronaut suit?<\/em><\/p>

In an interview<\/a> with Buzz Aldrin just published in Vanity Fair<\/em>, contributing reporter Eric Spitznagel finally got this answer:<\/p>

“We were well skilled in the art of disposal waste. There was such a thing called a ‘blue bag,’ which was kind of messy. There was a stickum on it, and you could stick it around your posterior. For urinating we had an ego-buster, which was like a condom catheter. We were cautioned not to overestimate our size. (Laughs<\/em>.) Because if the condom was too big, there might be a little leakage.”<\/p><\/blockquote>

The story continues: Aldrin describes in full detail what happens if you *do* have a little “leakage” (wiggle it out into a larger bag) and where astronauts flush those blue baggies. Aldrin tells Spitznagel<\/a> about a newbie mistake of tossing the bags (during extra-vehicular activity) in a trajectory that brought them straight back at their capsule.<\/p>

“We looked out the window and there were three bags in a row, heading straight for us.”<\/p><\/blockquote>

In case, Spitznagel isn’t the only one wondering about space crap, you should know that taking care of business has come a long way since blue bags. Astronauts potty train using simulators<\/a> before their travels. The Space Shuttles and International Space Station both have air-flushing toilets<\/a>, and the International Space Station recycles pee<\/a>.<\/p>

Related content:
Discoblog: California Lays Claim to Astronaut Garbage Left Behind on the Moon<\/a>
Discoblog: Scientists Examine Underwear Astronaut Wore for a Month<\/a>
Discoblog: Astronauts in Space Finally Enter the Intertubes<\/a>
Discoblog: Yum! Silkworms Could Be the Next Astronaut Food<\/a>
80beats: Strife on the Space Station: Russians Can’t Use the American Toilet<\/a><\/p>

Image: NASA<\/a><\/em><\/p>

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<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charged with writing to an astronaut, a five-year-old boy asked a burning question: How do you pee and poop in your astronaut suit?In an interview with Buzz Aldrin just published in Vanity Fair, contributing reporter Eric Spitznagel finally got this … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22374"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22374\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}