Florida Today has an article describing problems with the International space station.
"Problem: Toilet in crew quarters not up to safety standards. Consequence: A hose, fittings or connectors on the toilet could burst, spewing stored urine into the station. The floating urine droplets could blind crew members or impair their sight. Urine is one of many potential contaminants that NASA strives to keep contained because of the potential danger to the crew."
Keith Cowing on NASAWatch.com states:
'What is the risk (numerical) of these hoses breaking? Escaping food could be just as hazardous as urine droplets. Indeed I will wager that it is far more likely that food is going to float around in an uncontrolled fashion than is the chance that a piece of the toilet will break. Any droplet - including water - or a small piece of food could cause irritation if it got in your eyes - or nose - or ear. There are nastier things on the ISS than urine that could cause problems - and guess what: people eat them. Indeed, some of the hot sauces on board would be much more caustic and hazardous than urine - and are far more likely to escape human control. Why not classify all food as having exactly the same dire consequences of floating urine droplets if released - just to be safe? Image: Earth's Orbital Spice and Hot Sauce Collection. The large red container is "Sriracha" which is "made from sun ripened chilies which are ground into a smooth paste along with garlic and packaged in a convenient squeeze bottle" according to the manufacturer.'
Cowing makes a point that a lot of people inside the program have groused about for many years. My cynical response to this is that I hope that the safety people at JSC don't read NASAWatch. They will outlaw hot sauce onboard the station.
Posted by Bob at June 7, 2004 01:04 PM