Narrator: The beauty of machines is
They don't make mistakes.
But humans, now, that's another story.
Carpenter: It's gonna be real tight on fuel, gus.
Weitekamp: Human space flight is always a balancing act.
Narrator: In the high-stakes world of outer space
There's no room for uncertainty.
Mocr: Can you see the soyuz?
Narrator: Indecision or mental distraction.
Kluger: If you are not focused, you are going to die.
Narrator: Now, witness trial and error.
Massimino: I don't wanna strip the thing.
Narrator: In a place that wreaks havoc
On the body and mind.
The costly miscalculations
Astronaut: Does anyone receive our (indistinct) over.
Narrator: And narrow escapes.
Malik: If you miss one little thing
You can have a really bad day.
Narrator: By astronauts making life and death decisions.
(dramatic music)
Teitel: It's possible for human error to seep into any flight.
(dramatic music)
Narrator: May 11, 2009.
Astronaut: Okay, scooter, look,
It's a great day to go fly.
Narrator: The space shuttle atlantis rockets
Into its last solo flight.
(dramatic music)
Sts-125 and its seven-person crew
Are on a mission to repair
One of the greatest scientific instruments ever built,
The hubble space telescope.
Massimino: When you're dealing with something that important
There's a sense of urgency so I was extremely thrilled
To have been assigned to that flight.
Narrator: For the past two decades,
This 43 1/2-foot giant has captured images
Of the universe we can only get from space.
Shara: The atmosphere blurs everything you see in the sky.
If you wanted the very finest detail,
If you wanted to see the first generation of stars
You would need a telescope out in space.
That is what hubble has delivered.
Massimino: It's unlocked the secrets to the universe
And showed us the beauty of the universe,
Unlike any other science instrument.
(gentle music)
Narrator: In houston, flight controllers anxiously track
The shuttle's ascent.
The stakes on this mission are extremely high.
The hubble hasn't been serviced for seven years.
Now, many of its aging instruments are
In dire need of repair.
Astronaut: Huston, atlantis, 200 feet.
Narrator: But time is running out.
Astronaut: I'm flying at 151 feet.
Narrator: Nasa plans
To retire the space shuttle program soon.
When that happens, astronauts will no longer be able
To service the billion -dollar wonder.
Massimino: We wanted to do everything we could
To leave the telescope
In good working order for as long as possible.
We knew that anything that wasn't completed
On that mission was never gonna be completed.
Astronaut: Houston, atlantis.
Hubble has arrived on board atlantis with the arm.
Narrator: Six days after reaching orbit,
The crew prepares for the mission's fourth spacewalk.
Astronauts mike massimino and michael goode must replace
The power supply on the imaging spectrograph,
A piece of equipment whose data has generated
More scientific papers than any part of the hubble.
Massimino: The space telescope imaging spectrograph was
A very nice scientific instrument.
It was able to, amongst other things,
Detect the atmospheres of far off planets around stars.
Narrator: The spectrograph's power supply failed in 2004,
Leaving it inoperable for five long and disappointing years.
Massimino: Nasa couldn't afford
To build a new replacement for it.
So we were the repair people that were gonna go up there
And make it possible to see into the universe.
Mocr: Mike massimino , first out of the airlock.
Narrator: At 9:45 in the morning,
Massimino and goode slowly make their way out of atlantis.
Massimino: Coming out.
Mocr: That's great we see you coming out.
You can egress.
Narrator: Bringing the spectrograph back
From the dead will be a major challenge.
It was never designed to be repaired in space.
Massimino: We devised a plan to take it apart,
And put a new power supply in.
We created over a hundred new tools for this task.
Shara: It's very daunting, not for the faint of heart.
You've got to have rock steady hands
And you've just got to focus.
Narrator: Massimino and goode hope using the tools
Has become second nature.
They have just 6 1/2 hours to get the job done.
Massimino: You're out there on the clock.
You don't have all that much time to figure everything out.
Because you can't stay out there forever.
Narrator: Inside atlantis, commander scott altman
Carefully operates the shuttle's 50-foot boom.
It ferries massimino and goode to the telescope,
Parked in the shuttle's enormous payload bay.
Mocr: Mike massimino as he prepares
The manipulator foot restraint.
Narrator: In houston, mission control watches
As massimino begins the repair.
Massimino: Everything still looks secure,
I'm in the fly handle.
Narrator: A wire and foot restraints give him
A precarious connection to the security of the robotic arm.
Carpenter: Just a reminder to the both of you.
Watch out for the loop on the bolt.
Goode: Okay.
Narrator: Goode lingers nearby assisting massimino .
Massimino: We can move away from the telescope
And start right.
Narrator: Their first task, to remove the access panel
Covering the spectrograph's power supply.
Massimino: The easiest thing I was gonna do that day,
Was remove a handrail.
It was blocking a couple of these screws
On the access panel that I needed to get to.
So we could not take out the access panel
Without getting this handrail out of the way.
Narrator: The handrail is held in place
By four large head-set screws,
Two on the top and two on the bottom.
Massimino carefully begins the procedure
Using a reliable, low power tool.
The flight team cheers him on as he works.
Massimino: I got the top left in good shape.
Mocr: I see it, good job.
Narrator: An hour into the assignment,
Things seem to be going well, when-
Massimino: I got three out of the four screws to come out,
No problem, but a fourth one I was having trouble with.
Okay, I'm having trouble with the one
On the lower right.
(suspenseful music)
Narrator: Inside atlantis,
The flight team urges massimino to bear down harder.
Massimino: It definitely turned. Yep, it turned.
Narrator: But massimino has a sneaking suspicion
That he's already gone too far.
Massimino: I don't want to strip the thing.
Narrator: It's too late.
Massimino realizes to his horror
That he's already screwed up.
Massimino: I realized I had stripped its head,
It had destroyed the head of that screw.
There was no way to get it out once that happened.
Narrator: The rest of the crew is astonished.
How could something so simple go so wrong?
Astronaut: That darned handrail!
Narrator: In houston, dozens of flight controllers
Watch massimino struggle with the power drill.
Massimino: Ah, I can't see so well
In the darkness actually.
Narrator: The handrail is stuck in place.
Nasa's plan to revive hubble's precious spectrograph
Quickly turns to disaster
All because of a single stripped screw.
Massimino: It was like a nightmare.
The power supply was never gonna come out.
We were never gonna fix this instrument,
And therefore we would never find out
If there was life somewhere else in the universe,
And everyone on earth forever more would blame me.
(bright music)
Narrator: Dozens of controllers
On nasa's flight team watch
As astronaut mike massimino makes a mistake familiar
To every handyman on earth.
He strips a stubborn screw.
If he can't get it out, nasa's million-dollar mission
To rescue the hubble's spectrograph
Will end in failure.
Massimino: Oh my gosh, I dunno what's going on.
This was like really bad.
At that point I had messed up and I felt very, very alone
And I felt like, I don't know how I'm gonna fix this.
And I'm looking at the planet thinking,
The closest hardware store is a long way away.
Narrator: Massimino's error grinds the repair to a halt.
He and astronaut michael goode desperately try
To loosen the screw by using different drill bits.
Massimino: We were trying to think
Of ideas of what else we could do.
We tried different bits to try to move the screw
And none of that was working.
We didn't have a solution.
Narrator: On the ground, nasa engineers
All over america scramble to come up with a plan.
Astronauts have just two more hours
Before their spacewalk is scheduled to end.
Finally, an engineer in houston has a brainstorm.
He radios in a possible solution for the pesky screw.
Massimino: He thought to himself, if I was in my garage,
What would I do?
I would just rip that handrail off.
He relayed his idea to the engineers on call
At the goddard space flight center.
Narrator: Engineers at goddard test the idea
Using a handrail similar to the one on hubble.
It takes 60 pounds of force to rip the handrail off.
Massimino is six foot four inches and 200 pounds.
Pulling the handrail off should be a cinch.
Massimino: When I heard that
Solution to rip that handrail off,
It was like a new day had dawned in my life.
Feustel: Okay, mass, you copy that?
60 pounds linear at the top of the handrail
To bust off that bottom bolt.
I think you've got that in you.
Massimino: I can try.
Narrator: The flight team encourages
The nervous astronaut.
They know he has just one shot to get it right.
Massimino: We thought it best for me
To give it a couple of yanks,
Try to yield it a little bit,
Not just snap it off right away.
Okay, you guys know the drill.
Mocr: Just a few more turns.
Narrator: Finally the moment of truth.
Altman: Houston, are you ready for this?
Mocr: Yeah, we're ready.
Altman: Okay, mass, you have a go.
Astronaut: It's off. Narrator: It's a clean break.
Massimino: Disposal bag please.
Narrator: The handrail is off.
Massimino: I knew that once we got that handle out of the way,
Everything else was gonna work.
We could continue with our spacewalk as written.
We've gotta put this one in on the right hand side.
Narrator: Massimino and goode quickly remove
The access panel.
Goode: You push in on the board.
Massimino: I am.
Narrator: Replace the broken power supply.
Goode: That's good, stop, stop.
Narrator: And close the casing up.
Massimino: It was a good day from then on.
I was really careful from then on,
And luckily we did not have any other problems.
Narrator: Repairing the spectrograph
Is a major accomplishment.
Now, the hubble telescope is fully functional.
It's the kind of repair that humans have made
All the way back to caveman times.
Find a solution, strong arm it, and just move on.
Massimino: Everyone messes up, that's gonna happen.
I'm going to feel upset about it for a couple seconds,
But what's important is sticking to things
And not giving up.
Narrator: In the high-stakes arena of space,
The smallest human error can have big consequences.
Nasa's known that since its earliest days.
In 1959, the new agency selects its first astronauts.
They're known as the mercury seven.
Each is an experienced test pilot
Who's physically fit and mentally strong.
Nasa puts them through intense simulations designed
To make them as reliable as the strongest machine.
Kluger: The astronauts trained by ferociously focusing.
If you are not focused, you are going to die.
(engine whooshing) (dramatic music)
They had to be trained for second-by-second interaction
With their spacecraft,
And they had to be constantly prepared
To do things to sometimes quite literally, the millisecond.
Narrator: The ground team is every bit
As important as the astronauts.
Hundreds of experts are ready to give the astronaut
All the information he needs to succeed and survive.
Getting to space is a cold war battle.
With the united states and the soviet union
Each racing to win the prize.
The soviets have an early edge.
Project mercury is america's chance to gain ground.
In February 1962, astronaut john glenn becomes
The first american to orbit the earth in mercury-atlas 6.
Teitel: The national mood after john glenn's flight was elation.
(crowd cheering)
It meant that the americans had finally reached
The soviet union in space.
Narrator: Three months after glenn's flight,
Nasa readies a second manned orbital mission.
This time, colorado native scott carpenter
Will have the starring role.
Teitel: Scott carpenter was a former naval aviator.
And one of the things that set him apart was
He was the most physically fit of all the men tested.
Which was a huge deal for mercury,
Because one of the goals of the program was to see
How a man would survive in space.
Kluger: They were refining the techniques
That they had established
On john glenn's three-orbit mission
And making sure that they could fly
Even better than they had before.
Mission control: Four, three, two, one, zero.
(engine roaring)
Carpenter: I feel the liftoff.
The clock has started.
Mocr: Roger.
Narrator: Carpenter soars through the clouds
In his aurora 7 capsule.
Carpenter: Loud and clear, gus.
Mocr: Roger. Over.
(gentle music)
Teitel: Carpenter's first two orbits were great.
It looked like this mission was going to be
Another stunning success for nasa.
And that scott carpenter would come home
As the nation's newest hero.
Mocr: I understand you're a go for orbit three.
Carpenter: Roger, I am go for orbit.
(suspenseful music)
Narrator: But on the third orbit,
Something in his window catches carpenter's eye.
Carpenter: I have white particles in view
Below the capsule.
They look exactly like snowflakes.
Teitel: Carpenter got a little bit distracted
By illuminated particles around the spacecraft.
Carpenter: Standby, I think I see more.
Teitel: He kept banging on the spacecraft, seeing them,
Relaying his thoughts to the ground.
To the point where he didn't notice
That his attitude indicator was not working properly.
His automatic system wasn't holding
His spacecraft attitude or orientation right.
It was drifting slightly in pitch.
Narrator: Flight controllers sound the alarm
On the pitch problem.
But carpenter seems more interested
In what's happening outside the capsule.
Carpenter: I have the fireflies.
Kluger: There was too much fooling around,
There was too much sightseeing,
That there was too much
Maneuvering the spacecraft around
To look at various sites below him and above him.
And he seemed more lost than he ought to been.
Narrator: The distractions soon cause problems.
Carpenter fails to notice
That his spacecraft is starting to drift.
Kluger: The biggest problem with that is not just
That you're not paying attention,
It's that you are burning maneuvering fuel.
And the more maneuvering fuel you burn,
The less you have for reentry.
Carpenter: It's gonna be real tight on fuel, gus.
I've got the horizon in view.
Kluger: When everything had to be done precisely in order
For him to land within the narrow footprint
In the atlantic within which he was supposed to land,
He wasn't ready to do it.
Narrator: In florida, the flight team urges carpenter
To make a quick correction.
Mocr: All right, you'll have to use attitude bypass then,
And manual override.
Carpenter: Roger.
Narrator: Carpenter tries to adjust
With his retrorockets.
Mocr: Four, three, two, one, zero.
Narrator: But fires them three seconds late.
Carpenter: Okay, fire one, fire two
And fire three.
Teitel: Now, three seconds
Doesn't sound like a lot of time.
But when you're reentering the atmosphere,
That translates to a lot of distance.
Almost 75 miles.
(ominous music)
So no one's totally sure where he's gonna land.
Narrator: The heat of reentry interrupts communication.
Carpenter: Hi, hello.
Narrator: No one knows
If carpenter has made it back alive.
(dramatic music)
At the mission control center in cape canaveral, florida,
Nasa anxiously waits for any sign
Of astronaut scott carpenter.
Capcom: Aurora 7, aurora 7, capcom tower.
Aurora 7, aurora 7, cape capcom tower.
Kluger: The mercury capsule was a tiny, tiny piece
Of hardware floating in the ocean with a single man in it.
Capcom: Does anyone read aurora 7, over?
Kluger: The transponder indicated that he had landed
And his heartbeat monitors indicated he was alive,
But nobody knew where he was.
Narrator: Almost 40 minutes later,
A scout plane spots the capsule 250 miles off target.
Scott carpenter appears completely unaware
Of the urgent situation he caused.
Teitel: While nasa's freaking out,
Carpenter feels pretty good once he's survived the landing.
He just kind of crawled outside
And ate a candy bar while he waited.
Kluger: He was alone in the ocean,
He was digging the sun, he was enjoying the atlantic.
(helicopter whirring)
Narrator: U.S.S. Intrepid takes carpenter
For a medical checkout.
(dramatic music) (people chattering)
Then flies him to grand turk
To explain how he landed so far off course.
Nasa's brain trust isn't impressed by his story.
Teitel: Carpenter did admit that he got a little bit carried away
With the fireflies.
And had to start doing things haphazardly
To recover time right before reentry.
The more he revealed that it was just distraction
That had led to all the issues,
The madder some people at nasa became.
Kluger: He did not achieve
What the ground wanted him to achieve,
Which was disciplined maneuvering of that spacecraft.
Narrator: A nasa investigation clears carpenter
Of any error.
The flight is publicized as a success.
But carpenter never goes to space again.
Kluger: He was not the ideal astronaut,
But he was the ideal, just sweet,
Sort of dreamy, ordinary guy who went to space.
He might've been the most relaxed and philosophical
Of all the astronauts who ever flew.
(dramatic music)
Narrator: The mercury program ends in 1963.
But one of the original seven astronauts never got
The chance to fly into space.
Kluger: Deke slayton was chosen as an astronaut
In the late '50s, who had been grounded early in the program
Because of a heart fibrillation.
He had never been allowed to fly.
Narrator: Slayton could have walked away.
Instead, he dedicates himself to nasa,
Becoming the assistant director of flight operations.
But he never gives up on becoming an astronaut.
He quits smoking, works out harder,
And keeps up his training.
After nine years,
Nasa finally gives him the go ahead for flight.
Kluger: That was a huge deal for him.
He finally got to check that box like
All of the other seven original astronauts.
Narrator: Little does slayton know
That the trip will nearly cost him his life.
(dramatic music)
1972, moscow.
Richard nixon pays a week-long visit to soviet leaders
In a historic cold war summit.
While he's there, the two rival nations sign an agreement
To collaborate peacefully in space.
The two nations decide to launch a symbolic joint mission.
The americans will send astronauts
In an apollo command module.
The russians will send cosmonauts in the soyuz.
The two spacecraft will rendezvous
And dock together for two days in orbit.
Both countries face enormous technical challenges
To pull it off.
Teitel: Engineers are going to have to figure out a way
To connect these two very different spacecraft in orbit.
For the crew, this means learning how to dock
With a very different spacecraft than anything
They've ever dealt with before.
Kluger: You are in a potentially deadly vehicle
And you are facing technological challenges
That you don't face in any other vehicle
Other than a spacecraft.
Narrator: It takes each country's best and brightest
To come up with the right design.
The question is, will it work?
Teitel: If something goes wrong it would be a disaster.
Narrator: Apollo /soyuz will be one
Of the most high-profile space missions in history.
The soviets plan to send two
Of their most famous cosmonauts,
Alexei leonov and valeri kubasov.
(speaking in foreign language)
Teitel: Leonov had been the first human to walk
In space in 1965, and kubasov had flown on soyuz 6 in 1969.
They were two veterans and well up to the task
Of this challenging mission.
Narrator: Two of the americans
Are equally well-known.
Deke slayton finally gets his chance to go to space.
The commander will be tom stafford,
A veteran of nasa's earlier space programs,
Gemini and apollo.
For the third american,
It will be his first time in the public eye.
Teitel: Vance brand had also never flown in space,
But he'd worked as a capcom for apollo,
So knew the spacecraft quite well.
Kluger: These guys were trained for any emergency
But we are a fallible species
And astronauts will make mistakes.
(dramatic music)
Narrator: July 15, 1975.
Mocr: Eight, seven, six.
Narrator: The apollo and soyuz spacecrafts launch
From opposite sides of the earth.
Mocr: One, zero.
Ignition, liftoff.
Liftoff, 30 minutes.
(dramatic music)
Okay, and that flight is out of the four b.
Got acceleration. Man: Got it.
Narrator: Two days later,
The crews prepare to meet in space for the first time.
Stafford: Apollo. Houston.
Mocr: Can you see the soyuz?
Stafford: Ah ha, here he comes, real pretty.
(suspenseful music)
Narrator: High above the atlantic,
The two spacecraft begin the delicate maneuver.
Teitel: It was up to the apollo crew to guide its spacecraft
With the docking module up against the soyuz
To actually connect the two spacecraft and create a new one.
Stafford: Houston, apollo.
Mocr: Go ahead, tom.
Narrator: The command module carefully moves in
To match the soyuz orbit.
Astronaut: Did you fly by five?
(suspenseful music)
Narrator: To dock, the two spacecraft
Must be perfectly aligned.
Teitel: If they're at all off,
Not only will the two not connect,
But they risk running into each other
And potentially causing some damage.
Not only is it technically a failure,
It's also a big failure for international relations.
Narrator: Mission control calls the russian flight control team
For one last crucial check.
Mocr: Apollo, houston, I've got two messages for you.
Moscow is go for docking, houston is go for docking,
It's up to you guys.
Stafford: All right, sounds good.
(suspenseful music) (computers beeping)
Narrator: It's up to apollo to make the final approach.
It's the ultimate real life test
For years of difficult work.
Mocr: One minute.
Contact. Man: Capture.
Mocr: Capture.
Narrator: Apollo connects to soyuz without a hitch.
But there are more tests to come.
Pao: We are now equalizing the pressure
Between the docking module and soyuz.
Narrator: Mission control watches anxiously
As stafford approaches the hatch.
Astronaut: Ah! (speaking in foreign language)
Astronaut: Hello!
Kluger: From the moment the hatch was opened.
Alexei: This is alexei.
(speaking in foreign language)
Kluger: And tom stafford and alexei leonov shook hands,
They had already accomplished everything
They needed to accomplish.
Narrator: Millions of people around the world
Witness the historic handshake.
Announcer: Soyuz and apollo are shaking hands now.
Teitel: At this point, they were just two guys
In space doing what they love.
There was no war. There was no issues.
They were just sharing airspace.
(gentle music)
(ominous music)
Narrator: On July 24th, the american astronauts prepare
To head home after nine days in space.
Teitel: All that was left was the tricky business
Of reentering through the atmosphere and splashing down.
Narrator: The apollo capsule blazes
Through the earth's atmosphere.
High above the pacific ocean,
Astronaut vance brand manually activates the parachutes.
(parachutes whooshing) (dramatic music)
Teitel: Once the parachutes are deployed,
They open up and things start to slow,
But about the same time,
The crew starts smelling poisonous gas.
Narrator: The mission suddenly turns to chaos,
As astronauts try to figure out what's wrong.
Teitel: At this point in the reentry,
Vents are supposed to open to let in fresh air,
But because brand didn't turn off
The reaction control thrusters
It's letting in nitrogen tetroxide.
Narrator: Just moments from splashdown,
Astronaut vance brand falls unconscious.
(wind whistling)
The apollo-soyuz command module
Is just moments away from splashdown
With astronaut vance brand unconscious inside.
Teitel: Nitrogen tetroxide is leaking in
Through the release valves
That are supposed to be bringing in fresh air,
So they're getting toxic gas fumes.
Narrator: At 5:18 pm the capsule hits the water.
(radio chattering)
Heavy winds catch its parachutes and flip it upside down.
Inside, the astronauts hang from their seat straps.
(radios chattering)
Teitel: But the crew ended up getting emergency oxygen masks
On their faces just in time.
Kluger: Tom stafford put his on, slayton put his own,
And he put brand's on for him
And then brand revived consciousness.
Narrator: It takes five minutes for flotation balloons
To flip the capsule upright.
A navy rescue team is quickly on the scene.
Minutes later, all three astronauts emerge,
Shaken, but alive!
The crew appears unfazed at the welcome ceremony
But they soon complain of breathing problems
And burning eyes.
The navy flies them to a hospital in honolulu.
They stay for two weeks before their symptoms disappear.
Nasa investigators reconstruct the re-entry process.
They find that brand failed to turn off the thrusters
Nearly poisoning his team with noxious gas.
Teitel: The human lesson learned from this mission is that
No matter how well someone's trained,
It's possible for human error to seep into any flight.
Narrator: Stafford's quick thinking keeps
The apollo-soyuz mission from turning tragic
And paves the way for people
Of all nations working together in space.
(upbeat music)
25 years later, that promise is fulfilled
By the international space station,
A giant orbiting laboratory
Where astronauts from around the world work and live.
Astronauts and cosmonauts live
In the station for six months or more.
The longer they stay,
The greater the toll on the human body and mind.
Weitekamp: Part of the planning for human space flight is
Not only planning for the scientific missions
But how you're gonna actually
To keep the crew alive and happy.
And that is a very tricky engineering challenge.
Narrator: Part of that challenge is grappling
With one of an astronaut's most basic needs.
(dramatic music)
Massimino: The classic question
That all school kids ask us is
How do you do to the restroom, how do you do that?
Are you gonna miss- astronaut: Carefully.
Massimino: Carefully. Astronaut: Very carefully!
Massimino: Right, you have to be really careful.
Astronaut: You do.
Narrator: Not having a good plan for a potty
Can put you in a tight spot.
Nasa learned that the hard way.
May 5, 1961.
(bright music)
Astronaut alan shepard prepares
To launch into the pages of history
As the first american in space.
Shepard and the capsule sit on the launch pad
Much longer than nasa planned.
Mocr: Now we're 45 minutes late getting started.
Weitekamp: There were a whole series of delays
Of his actual launch, and while he was still sitting
In the spacecraft on the pad he radioed down
And said that he really needed to relieve himself.
Narrator: Flight controllers aren't sure what to do.
Aborting is not an option and there's no manual
For crossing your legs in a flight suit.
Weitekamp: There were no provisions made
For him going to the bathroom
Because nobody thought that he would need to go.
But a decision was made, in the moment,
To allow him to go in his suit.
Narrator: Flight controllers hope
They've made the right decision.
Shepard's wearing dozens of sensors
To evaluate how the flight affects his body.
The urine could cause an electric shock.
Weitekamp: There was a lot of nervousness.
How would the biomedical sensors react?
Would it affect the suit?
Would it leak out of the suit?
Narrator: Shepard relieves himself.
But there's no relief for flight engineers.
The suit's electric bio-sensors do short circuit.
It puts a damper on the mission
But the rest of the flight goes off as planned.
From then on, nasa comes up with a plan
For humans being human.
The initial plan is low tech.
Weitekamp: The urination device that male astronauts used
In the early space flights was essentially
A roll on condom-like cuff that could attach to a bag
That would then be jettisoned out of the space craft
Through a dedicated port.
(suspenseful music)
In 1973, nasa unveils a major upgrade
To accommodate longer space missions,
A down-to-earth-looking latrine
(triumphant music)
In 2007, they decide to splurge on one
That's even more out of this world.
It's a russian-made commode,
Built for those flush with cash.
$19 million dollars buys you a bathroom
That boldly goes where no bathroom has gone before.
Malik: This was really advanced.
It was a brand new toilet that was built
Into a water recycling system on the space station
That took any urine, cleaned it,
Turned it in to drinking water that they could use
For coffee, that sort of thing.
Astronaut: Yeah, you wanna show us a little bit?
Astronaut: Well it's got these little handles here.
And no, I don't really want to show you anything.
(upbeat music)
Narrator: There's no doubt
That the new toilet is a game changer
As long it doesn't break down.
Weitekamp: Having the toilet break is a real problem
Because the astronauts don't have options.
Narrator: Just two years after the toilet's installed,
The astronauts of sts-127 find themselves wondering
Where do you go when you're stuck in space
With nowhere to go?
(upbeat music)
July 17, 2009.
Six astronauts from five different countries
Are living aboard the international space station.
Today, they welcome seven crew members
From the space shuttle endeavor.
They're here to install a brand new part of the station,
A $2.4 billion module called kibo.
It's been in development for almost 20 years.
Weitekamp: Kibo is a japanese addition.
And it's a little unlike anything else
That's on the space station.
It's like a porch.
Astronauts and cosmonauts are able to put experiments out
And have them exposed to the lack of atmosphere of space.
Narrator: For the next two weeks,
There will be a record 13 astronauts crammed
Aboard the station making life
In space a very tight squeeze.
Astronaut: It's very difficult
To squeeze through the russian section.
Astronaut: Especially when max is here!
Narrator: The seven shuttle astronauts normally use
The bathroom on the endeavor.
But for this mission, it's strictly off limits.
Weitekamp: Planners knew that if everyone was using the bathroom
On the endeavor they would not have the ability to empty it
Because it was right next to the kibo research module
And you couldn't risk having that contaminated.
Narrator: For now, 13 astronauts
Must share just one bathroom.
The crew works hard for two days,
Setting the kibo in place for the new experiments.
But mid-way through day three,
One of them discovers a major problem.
(dramatic music)
Malik: The astronauts said, "hey, there's an issue
In the bathroom, it's not working right."
Narrator: The $19 million space toilet is a bust.
Malik: It seems like a very inconsequential thing.
Oh, the toilet's backed up,
So just don't use that one for now.
But it's not an option in space.
They really needed to figure out a way
To fix it as soon as possible.
Weitekamp: A plumbing accident in space
Is just not easily contained.
And it's more of an emergency than it is
When you're on the ground because it doesn't
All stay neatly in a pile on the floor.
(dramatic music)
Astronaut: Everything floats? Astronaut: Everything floats.
I mean everything.
Narrator: Astronauts quickly get on the horn
With mission control hoping that engineers
On the ground can help troubleshoot the problem.
Malik: They really wanted to get this fixed
Because they didn't want to have to go
To their black up plan.
Weitekamp: One of the options, if the toilet wasn't fixed,
Is always going back to diapers.
Narrator: The flight team finally radios up a solution.
A pump has broken and needs to be replaced.
Fortunately, replacing the part
Doesn't involve opening the toilet.
An astronaut repair crew works
Well into the evening to get it fixed.
Malik: They found this pump issue and were able
To walk the astronauts through a way to fix it
And not take too much time away from their mission.
Narrator: A successful repair is a big relief.
Malik: At the core of it we're still human
And we're still biological creatures that have needs,
And we need to just be able to live
In a comfortable environment.
And space doesn't make it easy.
(dramatic music)
Narrator: As the saying goes, "to err is human."
They're words nasa can't ever forget.
Malik: Space is a very inhospitable place
And so if you miss one little thing
You can have a really bad day.
Narrator: Today, we hope to travel
Farther and longer than ever before.
One goal remains constant,
To see and experience the wonders of new worlds
Not with robots but with our very own eyes.
Malik: Machines do a great job
But they don't tell the whole story.
Weitekamp: Humans want to go ourselves,
To be able to see things and touch things.
Astronauts: I got numbers for ya.
Astronaut: Out there, go ahead.
Narrator: Each mission gives nasa valuable insights
Into the human factor.
What it takes for us to survive,
And maybe one day even thrive, in space.