Jun 02 2008
Houston, We Need a Plumber!
OK so space travel is serious stuff, and I guess if I were stranded on the International Space Station without a working toilet I may not immediately see the funny side of this story. However, the stuff that comes across my desk deals with the darker side of human activity and so I’m sorry to say that I can’t resist making the ISS the butt of my blog today.
Apparently the ISS, despite all the money that’s been involved in its creation has only one toilet – and at the moment it’s not working. So what does anyone do when their toilet isn’t working? They call the plumber. Unfortunately on this occasion, the plumber is slightly further away than the next town, and so NASA has launched space shuttle Discovery with the “plumbing” team.
Of course NASA has assembled a few other assignments that the team can carry out whilst at the International Space Station, one of which is to install the Japanese Pressurized Module. Then there’s the delivery of a robotic arm and a nitrogen tank and examining damage to a joint that helps the solar arrays follow the sun for solar power. Buzz Lightyear is a guest member this team although his mission is purely for education on this occasion – at least that’s the official word.
Obviously there’s going to be a lot of work done on this 14-day mission, but I can’t help but think it’s going to cost a lot more for time and call-out charges to fix this toilet than one would normally expect – and that’s without the cost of manpower and materials! I wonder, are there laws against peeing out into space yet? For those of us below, it could give a whole new meaning to intermittent showers!
Sorry NASA guys, I love you really, but we need a little relief down here too!
8 Responses to “Houston, We Need a Plumber!”
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I can’t even imagine them being stuck up there without a toilet. The fact that they couldn’t figure out a way to at least have a temporary fix planned beforehand is beyond me.
Given that this is NASA, you’d think huh?
Apparently they can empty it manually but according to what I read it takes 2 men 10 minutes to do that procedure.
LOL!!!! “Intermittent showers”! This is a hilarious post but ya know, something that obviously didn’t have much forethought. One toilet? Egads!
hahahha, I’m on the floor at the moment. Okay phew. Ummm, I did not picture this wen I read the title earlier. Man could you imagine the stink this caused that poor man left at the station? Ikkkk. Yep that’s one handy plumber but he’ll love getting paid for this job. Maybe this will make them rethink just having one toilet.
This is funny, but very serious…
could it be that the astronauts are full of it?
hrm.
I couldn’t help laughing when I heard this the other night on the news! They have all this really serious stuff about crime and all, and then…..they say the toilet needs fixed on the Space Station!
It’s the plumber I come to fix the sink!
Chato
http://mentalhealthhumor.today.com