Nothing international about Space Station when using the toilet

William Atkins
Thursday, 16 April 2009 20:16

Opinion and Analysis

According to Gennady Padalka, the current commander of the International Space Station, various politicians and bureaucrats are making Russian crewmembers use their own bathrooms, foods, and exercise equipment. What's next,  pay toilets in space?


In the Fox News article “Cosmonaut: Russians can’t use American toilet in space,” Russian cosmonaut Padalka states, "Cosmonauts are above the ongoing squabble, no matter what officials decide. We are grown-up, well-educated and good-mannered people and can use our own brains to create normal relationship. It's politicians and bureaucrats who can't reach agreement, not us, cosmonauts and astronauts."

The arguments between how Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts use food and water, toilets, and other facilities, according to Padalka, has been a growing problem since 2003.

The BBC article “'Toilet row' lowers space morale” states, “For several years after his first space mission in 1998, Mr Padalka and his American colleagues worked in total harmony, he told the newspaper. But space missions became more commercial in 2003 and Moscow started billing Washington for sending its astronauts into space, he said. Other nations responded in kind, he added.”

During an interview held on Monday, April 6, 2009, Padalka told the Novaya Gazeta that "What is going on has an adverse effect on our work.” [Fox News]

The problem extends past bathroom privileges and goes to exercise equipment, too.

Fox News added, “He [referring to Padalka] said he had inquired before the current mission whether he could use an American gym machine to stay fit. ‘They told me: 'Yes, you can.' Then they said no,’ he was quoted as saying. ‘Then they hold consultations and they approve it again. And now, right before the flight, it turns out again that the answer is negative.’”

Page two adds more silliness to the story.