It must be a relief for the ISS crew to hear that their malfunctioning toilet will get some urgently-needed repairs next week, now that Discovery will be whizzing a new pump aloft. The dodgy loo has been unable to deal with liquid waste, and repair attempts failed. So NASA has cleared Discovery to fly on Saturday with a 13kg replacement pump, even though it means leaving other stuff behind. "Having a working toilet is a priority for us," said Scott HigginbothamHigginbottom, in charge of shuttle payloads. The Russian-made pump was even give special treatment: it was flown in a diplomatic pouch from Russia. Clearly when spacemen need to go, they need to go... [New Scientist]

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