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Yes, I’ve found another one of those quirky Mary Roach books to share with you. This time… we’re going to space.

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If you missed the last few books I shared, you should know Mary’s research tends to go a little beyond the norm and there will be some colorful as well as uncomfortable subjects discussed in future posts.

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“Early in my research, I came across a moment-
forty minutes into the eighty-eighth hour of Gemini VII-which, for me, sums up the astronaut experience and why it fascinates me. Astronaut Jim Lovell is telling Mission Control about an image he has cap-
tured on film.
“a beautiful shot of a full Moon against the black
sky and the strato formations of the clouds of the earth below.” reads the mission transcript. After a momentary silence, Lovell’s crewmate Frank Borman presses the TALK button.
“Norman’s dumping urine. Urine [in] approximately one minute.”
Two lines further along, we see Lovell saying, “What a sight to behold!” We don’t know what he’s referring to, but there’s a good chance it’s not the moon. According to more than one astronaut memoir, one of the most beautiful sights in space is that of a
sun-illumined flurry of flash-frozen waste-water droplets. Space doesn’t just encompass the sublime and the ridiculous. It erases the line between.”

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Sun struck frozen pee.

And we’re off!

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For all the excitement of preparation and training, I can imagine there would also be a lot of mind numbing down time.

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Butt lubrication is probably not highlighted in the NASA press pamphlet.

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The lunar two step?

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Want to test how astronauts react to stress? No toilet would definitely do it.

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