Index
Chapter 2: Waste-Stream Management Strategies in Crewed Space Strategies in Crewed Space
2.2 Space Capsules - From Vostok to the end of the Apollo Era (1961-1972) Era (1961-1972)
2.2.1 Vostok
The Vostok spacecraft launched by the former Soviet Union on 12th April 1961 lofted Yuri Gagarin into space making him the first human to orbit the Earth. The Vostok spacecraft was designed for a single cosmonaut (Figure 2.1). While Gagarin’s 108-minute flight started the era of human spaceflight, Vostok had a fairly crude environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) when compared to subsequent crewed spacecraft such as the Apollo crew modules or the International Space Station (ISS). There was no waste management strategy for trash during the flight due to the short duration of that mission.
Figure 2.1 Details of various sections of Vostok 3KA designed for a single cosmonaut (Chertok, 2011). Waste management was not a priority due to the short mission duration and limited mobility within the spacecraft.
2.2.2 Mercury
The Mercury capsule which lifted the first American astronaut into space was much more cramped than the Soviet Vostok space capsule. A delay in launch caused a bathroom
‘mishap’ during the maiden suborbital flight of Alan Shepard on May 5, 1961, which lasted 15 minutes. NASA later produced a urinary collection device akin to adult diapers for subsequent astronauts - just in case (Eveleth, 2013). This event, as aptly depicted in the movie “The Right Stuff”, marks the realization and beginning of focus on waste-streams with their attendant effects on crewed spaceflight. To meet the need for waste disposal a waste container was placed on the interior side of the entrance hatch of the Mercury spacecraft (McDonnell Aircraft, 1962).
2.2.3 Voskhod
The Voskhod was primarily designed for two cosmonauts, although it accommodated three on its maiden flight on October 6, 1964. The first Voskhod mission lasted 1 day and 17 minutes while the one that saw the first human spacewalk by Alexei Leonov lasted for 1 day and two hours. The short length of these missions indicates the cosmonauts required minimal facilities for waste management on board. The details of the waste management
~ I CATIOHAHTlHNA
7
IHS'TlltUMllfT 'AH1L
I
,11.MCAM(RA TVCAM(R.A
'-... JHlll.1Ul RA01.ATl0N LOIJVtRI
.L .. _ .. _ .. _ .. J
RAOIOU:T, TUlOIUl'H K.(V.
ATTINOl COfffll!OI. HAHOORI,
""'"""'
{
UtW,DU..tCAL COKJllC:TOM
,oo~om,.,..,
• •
\ . _ COSMONAUT'S UtCTtOH SUT CA.RkYl;!tll [M(R01NICV 1000
••AT(R. A llt.f.OtO.ACMNGY AHOA IWRVIVAL IOT
$.AJIITARY SYSTtM.
tUCTllttCAL P'OWIR IU'tt.'tl'l'ltnt
in Voskhod are not publicly available but the ECLSS was described as being similar to Vostok’s (Diamant and Humphries, 1990).
2.2.4 Gemini
Project Gemini was NASA’s human spaceflight program following the success of the Mercury program. While the Mercury capsule held only one astronaut, the Gemini spacecraft was designed for two astronauts, who were mostly confined to their seats. Waste generated in-flight was placed in stowage at the end of each day. Wastepaper from meals was packed tightly and placed behind the ejection seats; approximately 9 days’ worth of food packages could be stored in that area while the remaining packages were stowed in bags on top of the seats (Figure 2.2). Other crew dry waste-streams were stored in a dry stowage area provided behind the spacecraft pilot’s seat while some of the floating crumbs from meals and other small debris were vacuumed using the bypass exhaust hose from the suits-off configuration (NASA, 1966). The Gemini 7 mission with astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell lasted a record 14 days in low Earth orbit with a cramped 2.56 m3 of crew quarters. Available space for storage of consumables and supplies and waste stowage was minimal and this necessitated austere waste collection strategies, most especially for the human waste, which was described by the crew as ‘distasteful’ (Broyan Jr., 2007).
Figure 2.2 A cut-away of the Gemini spacecraft with cramped space for two astronauts.
Stowage space for waste-streams is behind the astronauts (NASA, 1965).
2.2.5 The Apollo Command Module (CM) and Lunar Excursion Module (LEM)
Though similar to the Gemini system, the Apollo vehicles had more stowage space (Figure 2.3) designed to hold to hold waste materials generated during the mission (McAllister, 1972).
Figure 2.3 Apollo Command module waste management system. Note the relative size of the waste stowage area (encircled) (McAllister, 1972).
The command module (CM) served as the crew habitat to and from the Moon, while the LEM was used for the lunar landing and ascent phase, with two astronauts on board. The waste-streams were stored in jettison bags that measured 101 cm long, 70 cm wide and weighed 380 g (Jones et al., 2012). On the Moon, due to the small crew cabin in the lunar module, jettison bags were a necessity to contain waste-streams from the astronauts. The jettison bags were dumped on the lunar surface.
0 0.5 1m
Fecat
collection , ~
asseJlbly :-9.
~~ '(:?. .. ~J!
~ .
'
',.,.,,~
~
Aft sanitation box◄
e ,• Outer pouch , recat bagurrne hose
.,---.,,.,-.1 _..
Pet
Q e n e t r a t , o n s
~ f
tt2 bleed / o purge f 2 ' -Y
filler Urine dump nozzle
Waste water dump nozzle
:a::
Signal conditioners
UCO
Figure 2.4 First picture taken by Apollo 11 commander, Neil Armstrong, on the Moon’s surface includes a waste jettison bag on the lunar surface near the lunar module “Eagle”
(Eric M. Jones et al., 2007).
The two Moon-walking astronauts would later rendezvous with the CM pilot orbiting the Moon, transfer waste-streams from the CM to the LEM, undock and jettison the LEM (which would later crash on the lunar surface) and head back to Earth. Urine was also vented from the CM with potential course correction consequences.
2.2.6 Soyuz
The Soyuz spacecraft has been in production for more than half a century and has been used in a wide variety of missions. The spacecraft accommodates a crew of 3 plus 100 kg to space or a crew 3 plus 50 kg on a return trip back to Earth (Jensen, 2017). It was the only human-rated vehicle transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station following the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, until the advent of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule which made its maiden flight to the ISS on May 30, 2020.
The Soyuz spacecraft has traditionally served as a transport vehicle to and from space stations - from Salyut to ISS. With an average habitable volume of 9 m3 out of a total of 10.5 m3 and a flight duration ranging from 6 hours to 2 days up to the ISS and just 3 hours down from the ISS, the current series of Soyuz spacecraft has a toilet in the orbital module with a wet trash storage. A demonstration captured by US astronaut, Michael Barratt
placed in the Soyuz’s orbital module to store waste materials. The orbital module and the instrument compartment are parts of the crewed Soyuz spacecraft that burn up in the atmosphere during re-entry.
2.2.7 Shenzhou
The Shenzhou spacecraft is designed for China’s manned spaceflight program. It closely resembles the Russian Soyuz, with three different modules, the descent module, a service module, and an orbital module (Smith, 2005), but is slightly bigger. Waste-stream management takes place within the spacecraft (Pang and Ke, 2004). It is possible waste- streams are moved and stored in the orbital module before it detaches and burns up in the atmosphere during re-entry. Following the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, the Soyuz and Shenzhou were the only vehicles capable of transporting humans to space until the recent flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, Endeavour.
2.2.8 Crew Dragon
The SpaceX Crew Dragon is one of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program spacecraft designed to fly astronauts to the ISS through partnership with American aerospace industry/companies who develop and operate a new generation of spacecraft and launch systems capable of carrying crews to low-Earth orbit and the ISS (NASA, 2020b) with potential for crewed spaceflight innovation, competition and ultimately cost reduction (Jones, 2018). A successful crewed test flight, Demo-2 (Endeavour) was launched to the ISS on 30 May 2020 (SpaceX, 2020) marking the first time astronauts would go to space on a commercial craft (Crane, 2020) with a successful splashdown on 2 August 2020. Waste stored inside the spacecraft’s disposable trunk below the crew cabin was later incinerated in the Earth’s atmosphere during re-entry (Silverman et al., 2020).