Apollo astronauts pooped in space by wearing a plastic bag taped to the butt or an adult diaper.
During the flight to the moon, the astronauts relied on “a plastic bag which was taped to the buttocks to capture feces,” according to NASA.
It was a disgusting, cumbersome process.
On the moon itself, the astronauts used a “maximum absorbency garment” for “fecal containment.”
Astronauts do wear diapers but usually only when the astronauts are leaving earth and orbiting into space.
On board the spaceship they do have toilets where they can pee and poop but the astronaut will wear an adult diaper when getting into space.
The astronaut may also wear a diaper when in the space suit when it's hard to get the suit off or they need to be out in space during a space walk.
A Maximum Absorbency Garment (MAG) is an adult-sized diaper with extra absorption material that NASA astronauts wear during liftoff, landing, and extra-vehicular activity (EVA) to absorb urine and feces.
It is worn by both male and female astronauts.
The MAG is just a fancy space name for an adult disposable diaper.
Toilets in space use airflow and suction to pull urine and feces away from the body otherwise the urine and feces or poop would float around in space.
Toilets in space work by using air flow to pull urine and feces away from the body and into the proper receptacles.
A new feature of the UWMS is the automatic start of air flow when the toilet lid is lifted, which also helps with odor control.
Waste in space is collected in different manners depending on the type of waste.
For poop the poop is typically collected in a special toilet and then eventually burned while the pee is collected in a special toilet device that then recycles the urine into drinkable water.
Current waste disposal methods on the International Space Station rely on astronauts manually processing trash by placing it into bags then loading it onto a designated vehicle for short term storage, which depending on the craft, returns the trash to Earth or burns up in the atmosphere.
Astronauts drink pee because it's an easy way to make water from the pee up in space instead of transporting heavy water into space.
Astronauts drink recycled urine because of the limited availability of water on board the spaceship.
The Astronauts recycle urine into drinkable water so they will have enough water to drink and save on water that they would otherwise have to haul to space with them.
Water is a precious and limited resource in space, so International Space Station crew members recycle it whenever possible, including recycling their own urine.
It only takes about eight days for the systems on the space station to process water.
Urine is boiled in the distillation assembly and delivered to the water processor, where it undergoes a cycle of filtration and chemical purification until it is usable by the crew – reducing costs associated with launching heavy water shipments to the station from Earth.
Water is heavy and hard to transport into orbit, which is why the International Space Station is a champion when it comes to recycling.
Even astronaut urine is captured and processed to make it drinkable.
Nearly all of the water astronauts drink and shower with comes from their urine and sweat.
Storage is hard to come by aboard the International Space Station.
An astronaut is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft.
Astronauts are paid according to the federal government's General Schedule pay scale, and they can fall on the GS-11 through GS-14 pay grades.
The pay grade is based on an astronaut's academic achievements and experience.
The starting salary for GS-11 employees is $53,805.00