ISS toilet is malfunctioning

The toilet on the International Space Station is broken. Just to clarify, that is, the only toilet on the ISS is broken.

According to MSNBC the problem has been going on for a week now. Last Wednesday, it was noted in a NASA status report that "While using the toilet system in the Service Module, the crew heard a loud noise and the fan stopped working. After some troubleshooting the crew reported that the air/water separator was not working.”

The crew tried to replace the unit with a spare part however their efforts were futile with the fix not lasting all that long. Since then the liquid waste disposal has been on the blink. Mercifully, the er, solid waste, side of things seems to be in full working order and has yet to malfunction.

NASA may call bit for a plumbing job when Discovery visits next week, the Associated Press reports but Discovery is set for launch on Saturday and doesn’t dock until Monday, so what is the three-man strong crew going to do about the situation until then ?

Sit tight would be the most obvious and least helpful answer. The crew have been using the commode on the Soyuz return capsule, but it has a limited capacity, which is only good for a few days. The crew are now using “a bag-like collection system that can be connected to the broken toilet”. Sounds pleasant.

NASA is thinking of having some parts flown Cape Canaveral, Florida and placed in the shuttle just before takeoff. However this may not be possible because everything depends on how heavy the spacecraft is. A Kennedy Space Centre spokesperson said it would be difficult to figure out where the parts could go to ensure the weight remains balanced.