We should be worried about the space toilet gap:
The menu of the Russian crew has over 300 dishes…
…It just so happens that the consistency of fecal matter turns out to be rather thick against the background of such a diet.
The menu of US astronauts is nutritious as well, but it looks more like a diet ration and presumably consists of exotic fruit, vegetables, sea food and low-fat meat. That is why, their waste is much softer. Engineers took account of these peculiarities when designing the sewage system for the ISS. It just so happens that the solid Russian waste ruined the US toilets in space.
The astronauts were sick and tired of toilet breakdowns and unpleasant odors. NASA was eventually forced to order a toilet system from Russia. US tax payers paid $19 million for the space toilet. The new construction was installed in the US department of the ISS.
Russia designs best space toilets in the world.
Assuming it’s true, I prefer the robust Russian solution myself. This is really a critical issue for deep space missions. The food can’t just be nutritious, it has to taste good and have enough variety to maintain crew morale over a period of months. I wonder how tough it would be to eat the NASA rations for years?
I’d bet that the difference in space rations is largely attributable to the differences in national diets. The Russian diet is a lot more like a US diet circa 1940 or 1950 – lots of meat, potatoes, and winter vegetables. Note also that Russia has a higher rate of cardiovascular disease than the US. American eating habits changed A LOT between the 1960s and today – I doubt that most of the high performance/health fanatic astronauts of today would be happy on Russian rations for an extended period.
I doubt that most of the high performance/health fanatic astronauts of today would be happy on Russian rations for an extended period.
No, but I’ll bet they’d like a more flexible diet offered by a better pottie.
This story is a load of crap, literally. NASA bought the Russian toilet because the US toilet was going to cost more that three times as much.
What’s sad is that 19 million actually sounds like a bargain for a space toilet compared with what NASA might have charged for one.
I recall reading that without gravity an astronaut must strain harder to have a bowel movement. I don’t think I’d like a diet that leaves me with baby poo, though I guess there is the risk of hemorrhoids with the tastier diet.
Of course a rotating habitat would render all these issues moot.
From my Navy days, at sea, when there is nothing else to do, food becomes much more important. Being able to support a broad diet on a long-haul mission is really helpful to morale.
Russians that I’ve noticed don’t like much American food (which is to say Mexican, Chinese, etc.) My stepson treated apples like candy. My wife never served prepared foods… not fresh enough.
Breakfast was crepes or eggs and sausage with tea.
Lunch was bread, sliced sausage and cheese with tea. Occasionally some handmade dessert for variety.
I had to take beets off the dinner menu but some kind of soup and occasionally some wine. Dipping bread in the soup is considered something hilarious that Americans do.
Russians also peel bananas from the opposite end that Americans do.
The refrigerator is always empty and vegetables are purchased for a single days meals. Coming from an Italian family, having an empty refrigerator is enough to drive a person insane.
I eventually came to enjoy beets. Oh, and sour cream goes with everything.
I forgot watermelons. American make precision engineered slices… Russians cut a spiral from one end to the other.