“Gravity-Defying Dilemmas: The Ingenious Solutions Astronauts Use to Conquer the Ultimate Space Challenge!”
As you can imagine, astronauts hated using the FCAs, and tried to avoid defecation by any means possible, such as simply holding it in or eating only half of their assigned meals – and to learn more about how astronauts stay properly fed and hydrated in space, please check out our previous video What’s Up With Space Food? And really, you can’t blame them. As NASA’s own officials history states:
“The fecal collection system presented am even more distasteful set of problems. The collection process required a great dead of skill to preclude escape of feces from the collection bag and consequent soiling of the crew, their clothing, or cabin surfaces. The fecal collection process was, moreover, extremely time consuming because of the level of difficulty involved with use of the system. An Apollo 7 astronaut estimated the time required to correctly accomplish the process at 45 minutes. Good placement of fecal bags was difficult to attain; this was further complicated by the fact that the flap at the back of the constant wear garment created an opening that was too small for easy placement of the bags.”
Furthermore, improper use of the FCA could lead to disgusting situations, as the crew of Apollo 10 – the dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 lunar landing – discovered in May 1969:
[Lunar Module Pilot Eugene] Cernan: “Where did that come from?”
[Commander Tom] Stafford: “Get me a napkin quick. There’s a turd floating through the air.”
[Command Module Pilot John] Young: “I didn’t do it. It ain’t one of mine.”
Cernan: “I don’t think it’s one of mine.”
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