Originally Posted by
Bfah
".... Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s used rudimentary bags attached to their bodies, storing them in onboard compartments or leaving them on the moon....".
You can't really avoid that topic if you are interested in the history of spaceflight. The process was rather gross and to be honest, I would be on a liquid diet for 48hrs prior to lift off. The top hat shaped receptacle had an adhesive ring at the "business" end and astronauts reported that had they known, any hair in that region would have been removed prior to flight. Liquid waste was pumped overboard but played havoc with taking star sightings through the navigation sextant.
Back in the days when astronauts were former fighter jocks, Rusty Schweickart commented on Apollo 9 that the most beautiful sight in the universe was the urine dump at sunset. Today's Disney groomed on-message PC inclusive outreaching space ambassadors will not be remembered for their witty comments. Strangely, we are becoming better yet poorer at the same time. I would have commented that constellation Urea was shining brightly off the port bow.
(On a long distance balloon flight some years back, I fitted a liquid jettison system in the basket which was used just after sunrise and while flying over Swindon, the dancing amber diamonds glittered in the morning rays of the sun. Delightful !)