Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

Chapter 14 explores waste management in space. Space training can be infantilizing, as astronauts must relearn how to eat, potty train, and maneuver their bodies. Zero gravity prevents recognizable sensations of pressure and the urge to use the restroom, which could lead to accidents or medical emergencies. A camera in the toilet bowl assures that users don’t miss the small 4-inch opening or clog the airholes that vacuum the waste down a tube. Roach tries the “Positional Trainer” (269), a model toilet to help astronauts practice their aim.

Making bowel movements in space more complicated, the absence of gravity prevents waste from falling down or away. To ensure separation from the body, astronauts need to spread their buttocks. Although squatting is more efficient, American astronauts find this position too foreign. Sitting toilets, despite being impractical, provide psychological as well as physical comfort for astronauts. However, Gemini and Apollo-era astronauts had the unfortunate experience of using fecal bags, which required the astronauts to attach bags to their rears and manually dislodge waste through the plastic. Afterwards, they kneaded in germicide to prevent the bags’ contents from building up gas and exploding. To make matters worse, not all the waste made it into the bags. Roach provides two excerpts from the Apollo 10 transcript in which the sudden appearance of free-floating feces interrupted the astronauts’ conversations. The astronauts called these surprises “escapees” (272). The consensus from the astronauts was that the bags were difficult to use, time consuming, and did nothing to control the odor.

With the advent of toilets came other misfortunes of waste management, such as “fecal dust” (275), “fecal popcorning” (275), and “fecal decapitation” (277). The problems point to the difficulty of containing solid waste in zero gravity. Urine is even more difficult, as its liquid state has more surface tension and sticks to the body or forms blobs that float away.

Roach addresses whether toilet issues played a role in women’s exclusion from early space missions. According to one source, because the condom-style urine collection device could not accommodate female anatomy, it was easier to exclude women than invent new equipment. Another researcher argues that women were reluctant to participate in the space program due to the lack of bathroom privacy on missions. Roach regards these excuses as rooted in the sexism of the era and the gender assumptions and hierarchies that privileged male subjects over females. She argues that women are ideal candidates because they tend to consume less space and fewer supplies than men.

Roach begins her chapter on space food with a humorous anecdote about a corned beef sandwich that astronaut John Young smuggled onto the 1965 Gemini III mission. The sandwich not only broke apart during the flight but it also broke NASA’s prerequisite that space food be lightweight and compressed.

Early attempts at developing efficient and nutritious food for astronauts reflected contemporary cultural contexts. During the mid-60s, the optimism of space-age technology and modern living welcomed new convenient foods. NASA experimented with food sticks and liquid diets. Volunteers consumed small blocks of compressed food that were rich in calories, easy to consume, and did not create crumbs that could float freely and cause equipment damage or become irritants. Carbonated beverages did not work in space because bubbles do not rise in zero gravity. Roach details efforts to provide sherry on board missions, but the public’s protest of alcohol in space led NASA to abandon the project.

Roach argues that despite several innovations, humans prefer food with the additional senses of texture, smell, and sight. Though the strangeness of space food may be novel and entertaining for the average citizen, food from a tube or in the form of a pellet had little appeal for astronauts coping with a new environment. Roach notes that the act of eating with a spoon, however impractical in zero gravity, provided familiarity and comfort.

Roach learns that another component affecting morale was the fact that military veterinarians led space food science. These scientists prioritized nutrition and weight over flavor and comfort. They viewed astronaut foods like pet foods, with an emphasis on compact nutrition and “low-residue” (299) waste. In response, some astronauts were known to fast to avoid dealing with the Apollo waste bags or a cumbersome toilet. Foods like steak and hard-boiled eggs have high absorption rates and produce less waste, earning their place as a traditional NASA breakfast on launch day. During a 1964 conference on nutrition and waste management in space, one panelist determined that individuals with lower occurrences of flatulence make ideal astronauts, while another panelist maintained that for short flights, constipation is ideal. Contemporary space food has improved with the use of reheatable sealed pouches. 

A trip to Mars would last two years and require a means of producing rather than packing food. Several proposals have attempted to solve the problem of sustainability by suggesting the breeding and eating mice, adding paper as a food supplement, and making windows from casting sugar. Clothing spun from soy, milk, and other proteins could find a second life as food. The idea of hydrolyzing solid waste into edible protein found little support from astronauts, although drinking reclaimed urine is a common method of hydration in space.

Roach addresses the taboo of drinking reclaimed urine by trying the method herself at the NASA Ames Research Center. She finds her filtered urine more than acceptable, but acknowledges that many people are not psychologically ready for “toilet to tap” initiatives. Roach is fascinated by the paradigm shifts of thinking that space travel requires, whether technical, socio-cultural, or psychological. Roach rebrands astronauts: They are not action-figure heroes, but advocates for environmentalism and sustainability. She also strongly disagrees with the oft-mentioned claim that space exploration is a waste of money: Many of the technologies developed at NASA have subsequently become useful or life-saving products used on Earth. A footnote enumerates such items: heart monitors, cordless power tools, and sports bras.

Roach expresses respect and awe at the human ingenuity behind space exploration. No simulation can ever recreate the inspiration and thrill she experiences in holding a Mars meteorite in her hands. Space travel requires real risks, and individuals who help make it possible should take pride in their achievements. Plus, while money could go to worthier causes such as cancer research, governments never simply transfer funds from one institution to another. Mars exploration may be frivolous and impractical, but it also engenders a unique type of optimism that counteracts humanity’s vices of war and greed.