When Astronauts Need To Go, Great Balls O’ Lightning

Abstract

Normally C&EN tries to avoid mentioning pee on its pages, but the Newscripts crew would be remiss if we didn’t relay the tale of what astronauts do when they need to go. In the June 1 issue of Advances in Physiology Education, Hunter Hollins of the National Air & Space Museum reviews the fascinating history of urine collection in space (DOI: 10.1152/advan.00175.2012). Alan B. Shepard Jr. became the second person (after the Soviet Union’s Yuri A. Gagarin) and the first American to fly in space on May 5, 1961. Although NASA engineers had put considerable thought into planning his mission, noticeably missing was a way for Shepard to answer the call of nature in his space suit. NASA scientists had assumed the first astronauts would be able to hold it during those initial short missions. Shepard’s flight was scheduled to last only 15 minutes, but he spent eight hours in ...