Pooping on a $23 million commode: Why Nasa's new space toilet is so special

One fine morning you wake up and feel the need to relieve yourself. To address these issues, Nasa started developing its own space toilet that would work in zero gravity, not only in the space station, but even during longer missions. This December 2019 photo made available by Nasa shows the Universal Waste Management System, a new space toilet. The idea behind developing the Universal Waste Management System was not just to meet the requirements of astronauts at the space station, but also to prepare for long-term manned missions to Moon, Mars and beyond. Just like the old space toilet, the new one also operates on this mechanism and uses air suction to collect waste, instead of water and gravity as toilets on Earth do.