Oh, Sweet Relief...

Nevermind the STS-124 mission's high-minded installation of the second and largest Kibo lab module onboard the International Space Station. What mattered most to the Expedition 17 crew onboard the ISS had to be the station's ill-mannered toilet... and we're happy to report it appears the astro-urinal is back in business.

As ANN reported, the station's Russian-made liquid-waste collection device had been on the fritz for 11 days, ever since a fan motor suddenly stopped working. The problem forced astronauts to rely on an ill-dignified system of plastic baggies... and something NASA obliquely referred to as a "urine bypass," which relied on another astronaut to assist with the, er, process.

"Insert that into your daily life, and you can see it would be quite inconvenient," Kirk Shireman, NASA's deputy space station program manager, said last week.

But that problem appears to be solved. Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko installed a new gas-separator pump Wednesday, bringing the lavatory back up to speed. The part was transported to the station onboard the shuttle Discovery, which arrived at the station Monday.

"It does appear the service-module toilet is back in business," Mission Control broadcaster Rob Navias said, reports Bloomberg. "Three separate tests indicate good air flow."

For those of you wondering how the ISS astro-urinal works -- admit it, you WERE curious -- the gas-separator distills embedded air bubbles from urine. The liquid is then funneled into a tank onboard the unmanned Russian Progress ships attached to the station.... while the air is returned to circulation in the station's atmosphere.

Speaking of station air quality, also on Wednesday astronauts replaced one of the carbon-dioxide scrubbers used onboard the ISS, which was behaving erratically.

FMI: www.nasa.gov