Dating to November of 1969, this silent NASA film is divided into several sections. The first is titled “Bicycle Ergometer Restraints”. The film shows an exercycle being tested in a weightless environment aboard a research aircraft. (An ergometer is, in this case, a bicycle fitted with mechanical work measurement devices is also an ergometer.) The tests were doubtless intended to discover what the best restraint system would be, that would permit an astronaut to exercise on a bike in space. A bicycle ergometer of similar design flew on the Skylab space station.
The second section is titled “Coronagraph and ATM Contamination” (8:30). A coronograph is shown — this is a telescope, fitted with an attachment that blocks out direct rays from the sun, used to study and photograph the corona of the sun. The type shown was used during Skylab to assess contamination in the vicinity of the craft. The data were used to determine the effect of that scattering on the various optical instruments on the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) such as the white light coronagraph.
The third section, “Apollo Fecal Collection System” (22:40) shows tests of a zero gravity toilet similar to that used aboard the Command Module (known as the fecal-collection assembly (FCA)). To operate this unit, plastic bags and a vacuum type machine were utilized (25:14). A germicide was also used during Apollo. The germicide would be kneaded into the movement, so as to prevent the build-up of gases which might inflate the bag and cause it to open. By killing the bacteria, it would render the potential poo-bomb inert. One of the most difficult aspects of space toilets has always been the separation, in a weightless environment. The Apollo era plastic bag came with a “finger cot” (like a condom for the finger) to help move waste into the bag. The bag was never popular with astronauts, and during Apollo 10 caused an infamous “floating poo” incident. The Skylab toilet was of a different design, as it was primarily a medical system to collect and return to Earth samples of urine, feces and vomit, so that calcium balance in astronauts could be studied.
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