10. If you are outside the Space Shuttle working or taking a spacewalk and have to go to the bathroom, do you have to come back inside the Space Shuttle? (A K2S Question)

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I do not know of anyone that has had to come back inside to answer a call of nature. The Shuttle and ISS spacewalkers are provided with a sort of adult diaper for Number One. These are off-the-shelf commercial diapers that can trap up to one quart of liquid waste and appear to work quite well. Because of the carefully designed foods there is little chance of having to do Number Two while out in a spacesuit, although in the earlier programs, we wore a thigh-length set of thick absorbent bloomers called a fecal containment system (FCS). I am not aware of anyone who ever used this system. So far so good!

Answer provided by Col. USAF (Ret.) William R. Pogue


Image:K2S logosmall.jpg Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer


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