Experience .. Space Toilet

Even when you're millions of miles from home, you can't escape certain facts of life. When astronauts are orbiting hundreds of miles above Earth's surface, they still have to eat, sleep and go to the bathroom. Of course, the mechanics of using the toilet -- and disposing of the resulting waste -- in zero gravity can get a little tricky.

Throughout the history of space exploration, spacecraft have come equipped with their own toilets. Despite this, there have been a few hitches over the years -- including broken toilets and disputes over sharing bathrooms -- that have made going to the bathroom in space an adventure in and of itself.

Alan B. Shepard, Jr.'s historic first manned American space flight, on May 5, 1961, was only supposed to have lasted 15 minutes. But nature would eventually call after weather and technical difficulties delayed the flight for four hours. Shepard threw in the proverbial towel and radioed to the controllers, "I've got to pee." He was told, "No way." With no other option available, Shepard was forced to go right in his suit.

Once space missions became longer, engineers knew they had to equip spacecraft with real bathroom facilities. To function in a weightless environment, these space toilets came equipped with a lap belt, handholds, and foot restraints to ensure that astronauts didn't float away midstream. Because there's no gravity in space, a fan pulled urine and feces into their respective collection containers. A filter removed any unpleasant odors before the air was returned to the cabin.

During a 1984 mission on the space shuttle Discovery, the aircraft's waste water venting system failed, leading to the formation of a very large icicle made of urine on the outside of the shuttle. Realizing that the urine-cicle could break free during re-entry and damage the protective heat tiles on the shuttle, the crew used the shuttle's robot arm to break it off. The tiles were saved, but the crew had no choice but to shut the urine collection system down. The crisis was averted, but the problem left the crew without a working toilet for the rest of the six-day mission.