The S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, better known as RSC Energia, has been awarded a $46 million fixed-price contract to provide NASA with new hardware for the Space Station because of the planned expansion of the orbital observatory from three to six crew members in the year 2009.

RSC Energia is a Russian manufacturer of spacecraft and space station components. It was named after its first chief design engineer Sergei Korolev (1946-1966). Korolev was instrumental in the Soviet space program during the Space Race between the United States and the U.S.S.R. (now Russia) during the 1950s and 1960s.

The $19 million toilet system is similar to Earth-bound toilets except that it has leg restrains and thigh bars to keep astronauts, cosmonauts, and other space travelers from floating off of it. Urine funnels, with attached hoses, are used when crewmembers feel "the call of nature”. Fans suction waste into the commode, which deposits it into a wastewater tank. In addition, the system will automatically transfer urine to a U.S. device that will generate potable (drinkable) water.

Additional information about the NASA high-tech water recovery system (WRS) is found in the iTWire article “Astronaut pee to be bottled for water in space”.

A similar toilet system is already in operation on the Russian side of the Space Station, at the Zvezda Service Module. NASA officials state that the ready-made Russian toilet was much less expensive that building one.

Some of the other hardware and technical expertise included in the multi-million dollar contract includes: engineering support for the docking mechanism of the shuttles to the space station; an extra air pump (to be used to conserve oxygen when crewmembers leave the U.S. Quest airlock for spacewalks); software enhancements for the Station’s inventory management system; and accreditation of extra computer hardware.

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