You have accessJournal of UrologyHistory Forum1 Apr 2018FR-18 HOW DO ASTRONAUTS URINATE? THE HISTORY OF INNOVATIONS ENABLING VOIDING IN THE VOID Kimberly A Maciolek and Sara L Best Kimberly A MaciolekKimberly A Maciolek More articles by this author and Sara L BestSara L Best More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2018.02.3038AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Astronauts require significant technological assistance for essential daily activities, and urination is no exception. We sought to discover the history of device innovation to enable urination in space. METHODS We searched NASA technical reports, Google, and PubMed for media and articles describing technology for waste management in space from the first manned missions to modern day space travel. RESULTS Urine collection was an oversight in early manned space travel. Alan Shepard, the first American in space in 1961, had no option but to urinate in his pressure suit after significant flight delays. He avoided electrocuting himself but short circuited his biosensors. The second Mercury astronaut, Gus Grissom, wore a urine collection device (UCD) in his suit in 1962. UCDs were modified versions of condom catheters with a belt-like collection bag. UCDs persisted until Apollo missions into the 1970′s. UCDs were prone to leakage and incompatible with female anatomy. These design flaws drove the use of high absorbency adult diapers, or Disposable Absorption Containment Trunks (DACTs), during the 1983 Challenger mission. DACTs were replaced with disposable, moisture-wicking and superabsorbent shorts, called Maximal Absorptive Garments (MAGs), in 1988 to avoid skin irritation. Outside the confines of a pressure suit, urine collection has been enabled by vacuum-assisted devices. Astronauts in a space shuttle void into various male or female-specific funnels attached to a flexible hose. The cumbersome nature of these devices and the time required to use them often caused astronauts to decrease oral intake. The first American space station, Skylab, included the first toilet. Astronauts are required to practice using the toilet as well as timed voiding to reduce risk of urinary stasis, infection, and retention, all of which are risks in a microgravity environment. Improvements upon this basic Skylab design to allow voiding procedures most similar to that on Earth were used for the International Space Station (ISS). Technology on the ISS has allowed processing of urine into drinking water since 2008 and new prototypes are harnessing urine waste products as fuel for longer missions. CONCLUSIONS Early space missions showed that microgravity posed both a physiologic challenge for urination as well as a design challenge for urine containment and disposal, especially for female astronauts. These challenges were not expected for some of the earliest manned space missions but since then has been a considerable focus for innovation and astronaut quality of life. © 2018FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 199Issue 4SApril 2018Page: e1247-e1248 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2018MetricsAuthor Information Kimberly A Maciolek More articles by this author Sara L Best More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...