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Broken Toilet Adds Urgency to Weekend Launch of Space Shuttle

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bananas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 05:16 PM
Original message
Broken Toilet Adds Urgency to Weekend Launch of Space Shuttle
Source: Bloomberg

May 30 (Bloomberg) -- A scheduled NASA shuttle launch tomorrow has taken on new urgency as the crew of the International Space Station awaits delivery of a part to repair the outpost's only toilet.

The shuttle Discovery will take off at 5:02 p.m. local time from Cape Canaveral, Florida. While its biggest piece of cargo is a Japanese-built lab segment, the station's plumbing problems have attracted more attention.

The vacuum-based commode began acting up about a week ago, losing the suction that is necessary to dispose waste in zero gravity. The three-person crew devised a manual alternative after several days. Flushing now takes 10 minutes and the efforts of two people.

``Insert that into your daily life, and you can see it would be quite inconvenient,'' Kirk Shireman, NASA's deputy space station program manager, said in a televised interview from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=ahEFyYjEe.98&refer=us
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htuttle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 05:52 PM
Response to Original message
1. I wonder what a zero-g plumber charges per hour?
Can't be cheap!!
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Ghost Dog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 06:09 PM
Response to Original message
2. Yup. Holy shit.
Edited on Fri May-30-08 06:12 PM by Ghost Dog
Let's have more intelligent machines in space sometime soon, please.

ed. We (now) have the technology.

(Spreading human + parasite DNA around in open space, on the moon and maybe elsewhere is, without sufficient understanding, just not very cool, anyway, you "Top Gun" guys)...
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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 06:29 PM
Response to Original message
3. Reminds me of John Carpenter's "Dark Star" movie
"Storage Area 9 self-destructed last week, destroying entire ship's supply of toilet paper. That's all."
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Barrett808 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 06:57 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. "Let there be light."
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Frank Cannon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 09:55 PM
Response to Reply #3
10. "Benson, Arizona, the warm wind through your hair..."
http://www.benzedrine.cx/benson.mp3
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Kali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 11:25 PM
Response to Reply #3
12. 20 years for deliveries
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lapfog_1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-31-08 12:11 AM
Response to Reply #3
13. Now THAT is a movie that I loved in college
beach balls with feet... tap tap tap!

Existential arguments with a planet destroying smart bomb!

And I now freakin *LIVE* in Benson, AZ. Really. Just got back from ice cream at what used to be the only DQ in town (now called the "Old Benson Ice Cream Store").
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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-31-08 09:21 AM
Response to Reply #13
14. It's your turn to feed the alien
Edited on Sat May-31-08 09:22 AM by slackmaster


Their space suits sport objects made from things like styrofoam packing inserts and muffin tins, painted silver.
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lapfog_1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-31-08 12:47 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. killer com lasers!
I laughed my ass off.
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Prisoner_Number_Six Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 06:33 PM
Response to Original message
4. You'd think it'd be easier to hold it in longer in zero-g.
:shrug: :evilgrin:
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Barrett808 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 07:03 PM
Response to Original message
6. Apologies, but I must note the karass that's assembled here:
Edited on Fri May-30-08 07:05 PM by Barrett808
htuttle, Ghost Dog, slackmaster, Prisoner_Number_Six, and Barrett808.

I defy you to claim that we all don't know exactly where the others are coming from.

Or kill me.
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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 07:19 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. Damn you, I'm suffering from low back pain and you made me laugh real hard!
PRABOB and pass the TP.
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Barrett808 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 07:37 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. And all it took was a broken throne of excremeditation in space.
Edited on Fri May-30-08 07:37 PM by Barrett808
JHVH-1 does work in mysterious ways.
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nebenaube Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 09:16 PM
Response to Reply #6
9. wow
><
namaste'
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Canuckistanian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-30-08 10:04 PM
Response to Original message
11. Houston, we have...... oh, fuck no... CLOSE THAT HATCH!
Houston, we'll get back to you.
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-31-08 02:16 PM
Response to Original message
16. Deleted message
Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
 
stlsaxman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-31-08 03:33 PM
Response to Original message
17. rightly deleted and please accept my apologies for that tasteless post. n/t
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bananas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-31-08 06:48 PM
Response to Reply #17
20. It must've been a real stinker!
:hi:
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stlsaxman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-01-08 06:40 AM
Response to Reply #20
22. it was horrid! (and totally appealing to my base sense of humor!)
:hurts:

but the shuttle launched last night to save the day!
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roamer65 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-31-08 03:43 PM
Response to Original message
18. This has to be the most expensive plumbing call in history.
Edited on Sat May-31-08 03:44 PM by roamer65
:silly:
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Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-31-08 06:30 PM
Response to Original message
19. I live in the country, so...
"Why can't they just go outside, like... behind a star?"

:hurts:

:rofl:
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truthisfreedom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-31-08 08:17 PM
Response to Original message
21. That writer was thrilled to be able to include "toilet" and "urgent" in the same headline.
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