13 astronauts, but not one plumber aboard the International Space Station (ISS)!!! So what do you do when Mission Control has instructed you to hang an “out of service” sign on the only available toilet?! “Ahhhh crap! It’s time to be friendly with those Russians!!!”
Endeavour’s crew is using the toilet on board their space shuttle, but the other ISS residents have to use a backup toilet in the Russian part of the station! You might be thinking “so what!?”, but there has been toilet friction between the US and Russia for a while! The now-broken toilet is Russian-made and cost millions of dollars, it was launched into space and attached to the US side of the ISS last year, broke down shortly after and Discovery had to do an emergency mission to bring a replacement part to space! Also last year, a Russian crew member complained of being blocked from using the U.S. toilet due to billing and cost concerns!!! hahaha
If worse comes to worst, NASA reports that “Apollo-era urine collection bags” are available.
If you ever wondered just HOW you go to the toilet in space — watch this video & make sure to look out for that next shooting star!!!
In Kim’s Head 
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