Hicks tests positive
NASA’s first new space potty in decades — a $23 million titanium toilet better suited for women
— is getting a not-so-dry run at the International Space Station before eventually flying to the moon.
It’s packed inside a cargo ship that should have blasted off late on Thursday from Wallops Island, Virginia. But the launch was halted with just two minutes remaining in the countdown.
Barely 100 pounds (45 kilograms) and just 28 inches (71 centimeters) tall, it’s roughly half as big as the two Russian-built toilets at the space station. It’s more campersize to fit into the NASA Orion capsules that will carry astronauts to the moon in a few years. Station residents will test it out for a few months. If the shakedown goes well, the toilet will be open for regular business.
With SpaceX now launching astronauts to the space station and Boeing less than a year from sending up its first crew, more toilets are needed. The new one will be in its own stall alongside the old one on the US side of the outpost.
The old toilets cater more toward men. To better accommodate women, NASA tilted the seat on the new toilet and made it taller. The new shape should help astronauts position themselves better for No. 2, said Johnson Space Center’s Melissa McKinley, the project manager.
“Cleaning up a mess is a big deal. We don’t want any misses or escapes,” she said.
Let’s just say everything floats in weightlessness.
As for No. 1, the funnels also have been redesigned. Women can use the elongated and scooped-out funnels to urinate. Until now, it’s been one or the other for female astronauts, she noted.
Going to the bathroom in space may sound simple, but “sometimes the simple things become very difficult” without gravity, said NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins, commander of the second SpaceX crew, due to launch Oct. 31 from Kennedy Space Center.
WASHINGTON — Hope Hicks, one of President Donald Trump’s closest aides, has tested positive for the coronavirus after spending time in close proximity to him this week.
Ms Hicks, who serves as counsellor to Mr Trump and travelled with him to a rally on Wednesday, tested positive on Thursday, according to an administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private health information. She is the most senior White House official to test positive so far.
The White House did not immediately respond to multiple questions about the last time Mr Trump was tested and whether he and other staffers who spent time with Ms Hicks in recent days will be asked to quarantine.