Trending Now
When you see that people are tweeting about urine and excrement, your first inclination might be to move on past it.
But I’m telling you right now that you don’t want to do that.
The thread is brought to you by Mary Robinette Kowal, who recently published an essay called “To Make It to the Moon, Women Have to Escape Earth’s Gender Bias,” and it is basically a crash course on peeing and pooping in space.
It reminds us that it’s not only women who need to maneuver some interesting ins and outs if they hope to get through a mission without soiling themselves.
It all begins with a history lesson, including the fact that NASA wasn’t sure what humans could or could not do in space.
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277166996017152
They really didn’t have a plan, and I assume no one was allowed any Tang before liftoff.
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277169105788928
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277170846388229
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277172515741696
Then, the sheath discussion. I’ll let that speak for itself.
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277174122139653
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277175799898112
And the pooping. My goodness. Gross.
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277177322356737
Back to the peeing, which is apparently… something of a show?
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277179935416321
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277181499924485
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277183244701696
Then we get this little historical tidbit:
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277185396449280
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277187002847233
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277188856745984
Diapers are the answer when women are involved, though the men liked them better, too.
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277190450589696
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277192304484354
And a toilet! Yay…oh.
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277194196082688
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277195857027072
She wound it up with a few more fun facts.
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277197387980800
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152277198906302464
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152296244229955584
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152296246754893824
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152296249082765313
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152296251121123334
https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1152296253394432000
And now you know what you didn’t know before – and aren’t you glad?
