Adv Physiol Educ 37: 123–128, 2013;

doi:10.1152/advan.00175.2012. Historical Perspectives

Forgotten hardware: how to urinate in a spacesuit

Hunter Hollins
National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia
Submitted 26 December 2012; accepted in final form 11 March 2013

Hollins H. Forgotten hardware: how to urinate in a spacesuit. Adv Physiol still the realm of “Buck Rogers” type fiction, and to many
Educ 37: 123–128, 2013; doi:10.1152/advan.00175.2012.—On May 5, deemed unworthy of funding. In addition, the National Advi-
1961, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American to fly in sory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA), Air Force, Army,
space. Although the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Navy were independent organizations, with their own
(NASA) had discounted the need for him to urinate, Shepard did, in
his spacesuit, short circuiting his electronic biosensors. With the
funding, their own missions, and their own priorities. NACA
development of the pressure suit needed for high-altitude and space had been working since the end of World War I to make flying
flight during the 1950s, technicians had developed the means for urine safer, and the United States (U.S.) Congress would not trans-
collection. However, cultural mores, combined with a lack of inter- form it into NASA until 1958. The Air Force excelled in
agency communication, and the technical difficulties of spaceflight experimental high-altitude, high-speed flight and was the “un-
made human waste collection a difficult task. Despite the difficulties, questioned leader in aerospace medicine and biotechnology”
technicians at NASA created a successful urine collection device that (18). The Army had Werner von Braun and his rocket team as
John Glenn wore on the first Mercury orbital flight on February 20, well as the Luftwaffe physicians captured under Operation
1962. With minor modifications, male astronauts used this system to Paperclip. The Navy had the most influential training facility:
collect urine until the Space Shuttle program. John Glenn’s urine the centrifuge at the Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory
collection device is at the National Air and Space Museum and has
been on view to the public since 1976.
in Johnsville, PA, as well as the Naval School of Aviation
Medicine in Pensacola, FL. Without coordination, progress
history of physiology; space physiology; urine collection came in fits and starts, and the services did not routinely share
information gained from experience.
During the early 1950s, engineers developed the pressure
FROM A POSTCARD to the National Aeronautics and Space Ad- suit for high-altitude flying and spaceflight. This suit encased
ministration (NASA): the human body for survival. Early astronauts consumed a
February 1, 1961 low-residue diet to limit bowel movements, eliminating the
Dear Sir, need for technicians to develop systems to handle feces in
In our science class we were talking about the first man that would
go into space and we would like to know where they go to the toilet flight. Doctors and engineers did learn how to handle the
when there [sic] up in space and there’s no gravity. collection of urine soon after the pressure suit was developed,
Yours truly, but NASA did not use these developments for the initial
Brenda Kemmerer Mercury flights. Only men, it must be noted, piloted the early
Box 77 U-2s, high-altitude test planes, and Mercury capsules. Gus
Cherryville, Pennsylvania (12)
Grissom followed Alan Shepard as the second Mercury astro-
Brenda and her friends in science class wondered, as chil- naut, and John Glenn was the third astronaut and the first
dren still do today, but in 1961, scientists and technicians at the American to orbit the earth in 1962. It would take an entire
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) dis- year after Brenda mailed her postcard that astronauts finally
counted the problem. Dr. Freeman H. Quimby, of the Office of had a way “to go.” Glenn wore a UCD. There has been little
Life Science Programs at NASA, replied to Brenda that “the published information on who made Glenn’s UCD or how it
first space man is not expected to have ‘to go’” (19). The worked, but it is in the collection of the National Air and Space
expectation of technicians was that the astronaut would urinate Museum (see Fig. 1).
just before they closed his pressure suit and then hold it until
he was on the rescue ship (10). For the first American space The Pressure Suit
flight on May 5, 1961, NASA did not give astronaut Alan Space or its high-altitude equivalent is lethal to the human
Shepard a urine collection device (UCD), and during his 4-h body. The primary goal of pressure suits is to keep the pilot or
wait on the launch pad, he had to urinate in his pressure suit. astronaut alive, both by providing a constant pressure in which
No one knew what effect this bodily need would have on the the body can function and by circulating adequate oxygen for
mission, but after some rumination, the launch pad team told breathing. The pressure suit also has to accommodate the
him to “do it in the suit” (30). proper collection and storage of human waste, a task vital to
Despite the obvious, all humans have to urinate, and the the successful completion of manned aerospace missions (20).
agencies coordinating astronaut health and safety had a hard The human body needs pressure to survive, and as one climbs
time creating systems to handle human waste or even discuss- higher above sea level, the pressure of the air on the body
ing it in other than simplistic terms. To be fair, it was difficult decreases. At sea level, there is ⬃14.7 pounds per square inch
to develop ANYTHING space related in the 1950s. Space was (PSI) of pressure. In Denver, CO, the external pressure on the
body is ⬃12 PSI. Pressure continues to decrease as altitude
Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: H. Hollins, Space
increases, until there is no pressure at all. Early practitioners of
History, MRC 311, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, aerospace medicine believed that the body would actually
PO Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012 (e-mail: hollinsh@si.edu). explode without enough pressure (1). Today we understand
1043-4046/13 Copyright © 2013 The American Physiological Society 123
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Historical Perspectives
124 FORGOTTEN HARDWARE

environmental full-pressure suits to combine altitude and [wa-

ter] immersion protection” (23). In 1946, the David Clark
Company of Worcester, MA, developed the S-1 partial-pres-
sure flight suit that Chuck Yeager would wear while breaking
the sound barrier on October 14, 1947. This was not a full-
pressure suit, but one that foreshadowed developments the
David Clark Company would achieve during the next few
years.
In 1954, two developments would spur rapid change. In
November, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) re-
ceived authorization to proceed with the Lockheed CL 282
program, later renamed the U-2, the high-flying spy plane, a
version of which still operates today. Then, in December, the
NACA signed a memorandum of understanding with the Air
Force and Navy to develop the X-15, an aircraft designed to
exceed three times the speed of sound and operate near the
upper limits of the atmosphere. The X-15 program required a
Fig. 1. Urine collection bag from John Glenn’s Mercury Flight. [From the full-pressure suit; significantly, engineers did not integrate a
National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.] UCD into the suit until 1970.
Early test pilots and astronauts had to wear their pressure
that only blood vessels rupture, not the entire body. Death, suits while working inside a cramped cockpit. The early
however, remains the outcome. pressure suits were difficult to put on, and once they were on,
The human body can function with much less than 14.7 PSI. the pilot or astronaut could not open them until the mission was
Breathing pure oxygen, the human body can remain viable complete without risking the mission or, worse, death. Dr. Col.
with pressures as low as 3 PSI, and engineers designed pres- Donald D. Flickinger and Dr. William Randolph “Randy”
sure suits to provide 3–5 PSI depending on how much time the Lovelace, medical advisors for the U-2 program, asked the
pilot would remain in low pressure and how quickly the pilot David Clark Company to create the suits to keep U-2 pilots
needed to return to a normal pressure (27). A rapid change alive. “The technology that enabled U-2 pilots to operate for
from high pressure to low pressure causes decompression extended periods in reduced atmospheric pressure would later
sickness: the dissolved nitrogen gas in the blood forms bub- play a major role in the manned space program” (17). The
bles, and as the bubbles move through the bloodstream, they David Clark suits were bulky and uncomfortable. The first
cause severe pain and even death. To prevent decompression versions of this suit did not offer urine collection, and the
sickness, high-altitude pilots and astronauts breathe 100% second generation used an in-dwelling catheter, which is a tube
oxygen. In addition, they “prebreathe” oxygen for 90 min threaded up the length of the penis inside the urethra and into
before the flight begins to remove excess nitrogen from their the bladder (17). With the in-dwelling catheter, urine drains
bloodstream (17). continuously through the tube into a collection device, remov-
In the early 1930s, Wiley Post worked with B.F. Goodrich of ing the physical need to urinate. This solution is poor. An
Akron, OH, to invent the first American pressure suit for in-dwelling catheter is very uncomfortable, and the procedure
aeronautics. It was for use during his high-altitude flights creates opportunities for damage to internal membranes, which
aboard his Lockheed Vega, the Winnie Mae. Post and the can lead to infections. It was not until 1955 that engineers
engineers at B.F. Goodrich developed a “light-weight, com- integrated an external UCD into the suit for urine collection.
pact, personal-sized, pressurized environment that would be The CIA is a closed community, and the information gathered
compatible with his existing aircraft” (31). Post’s suit main- for successful flights remains within that agency. Although the
tained a pressure of 3 PSI and eventually allowed him to attain CIA, NASA, and U.S. military shared the same contractors and
altitudes of 50,000 ft. His oxygen was stored in a container that medical advisors (Flickinger and Lovelace were integral in
fed his suit through a tube. It is important to note that the suit creating the NASA astronaut corps), historical documents do
was secondary to the craft. As long as the craft was primary, not illustrate significant transfer of technology from within the
human needs would be met in a continuously evolving, code- CIA out to other agencies.
veloped, and marginally satisfactory manner. Through the The U.S. Navy contracted with B. F. Goodrich and Arrow-
early space program, scientists, engineers, and users worked head Rubber in the 1950s to produce a pressure suit for pilots.
together to refine the interface between man and machine, The first phase was the Mark III, with the later Mark IV
solving problems in a contingent fashion, pushing ideas and becoming the prototype for NASA’s Project Mercury. In 1959,
back and forth until a passable solution was achieved (14). NASA went to Wright Patterson Air Force Base to evaluate the
After World War II, with the Cold War already in full swing, existing pressure suits under development, and while the David
the U.S. embarked on not only missile and rocket development Clark Company and International Latex Corporation were
but also rapidly engaged in developing faster and faster air- contenders for the contract (astronauts of Gemini and Apollo
craft. Without NASA to coordinate their efforts, the various programs would eventually use their suits), NASA chose the
military services would independently work to find solutions to B.F. Goodrich Mark IV for Mercury pilots (27). NASA had
common problems. To support the new aircraft, the U.S. Air decided that astronauts needed the capability to maneuver
Force initially concentrated its efforts on partial-pressure suits. Mercury capsules, but since the astronauts had the protection
The U.S. Navy, on the other hand, would emphasize “omni- of the capsule except during an emergency, existing pressure

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 Historical Perspectives
FORGOTTEN HARDWARE 125

suits were sufficient. There would be no extravehicular activity be that the human subject for this test needed to urinate,
(space walks) until the Gemini program. Using existing de- although the available documentation makes no mention of
signs also allowed for a more expeditious delivery of the this. In October of 1960, engineers also installed the pressure
product. Modification of the Mark IV suits included adding an suit control system at the Johnsville Centrifuge for an addi-
aluminum layer to the outside and custom fitting to minimize tional 134 h of manned testing under simulated flight (29).
bulk in the small capsules. Delivery of the customized suits With pressure suit testing complete, the astronauts went into
took place on October 1, 1959. space with or without a UCD. “The short-mission durations
[for Mercury] made it entirely feasible to collect all the voided
The UCD of the Dawn of the Space Age urine in a single container within the suit and to recover it after
astronaut recovery” (4). Allan Shepard flew on Freedom 7,
In American culture, now and in the 1950s, the norm for an Mercury-Redstone 3, on May 5, 1961. As his flight was only to
adult is to have control over their body, and public display or be 15 min, despite the text from Dr. Charles A. Berry (Chief of
discussion of removing our normal waste products is generally the Center Medical Operations Office), they did not take into
not accepted. “Urinary incontinence can have a significant account that he might need to urinate. During the event,
detrimental effect on a person’s body image and self-esteem Shepard spent 4 h on the launch pad and eventually needed to
because it undermines society’s norms relating to body con- relieve himself into his suit. Regardless of how much time
trol” (9). Many UCDs were developed for general use not spent on the pad, Mercury astronauts were suited up for 4 h
related to aeromedical concerns. A patent for a UCD, granted before launch and for at least 1 h for the flight and rescue
in the U.S. in 1952, states that the invention is for “eliminating operation. Engineers had designed, and subjects had tested, the
distressing and mortifying consequences” (5). In 1957, a group Mercury environmental control system (both the capsule and
of British inventors developed a UCD that could have benefited pressure suit) that maintained life support for 28 h. Shepard
American pilots and astronauts. The device was to be worn spent 8 h in his suit, due to launch delays, and eventually the
inside the pressure suit “or equipment whose position or body loose urine in his suit short circuited the electronic medical
harness makes normal urination highly inconvenient or impos- data sensors attached to his body (10). Regarding urination in
sible.” The device attached to the penis and directed the urine the Mercury capsule, NASA submitted a report to the U.S.
to bags of absorbent material, which would hold the urine until Congress on April 28, 1961, days before the launch, stating
the end of the mission. Although this invention hints at future that “A container for liquid waste is located near the entrance
absorbent technologies used on the Space Shuttle for urine hatch” (6). Even if there had been a container near the hatch,
collection, NASA reports do not mention this device. The it certainly would not be usable by the astronaut, as he was
application is also interesting in that it illustrates the level of strapped into his form-fitting couch with little room to move
discomfort with language conjuring male sexuality and urina- (see Fig. 2). NASA had not appreciated the pilot’s possible
tion. The device (Personal Sanitary Conveniences) “enables need to urinate but needed to maintain the public and political
the wearer to pass water when necessary without subsequent perception that all was in order.
discomfort or embarrassment. According to the present inven- For the second suborbital flight on July 24, 1961, Gus
tion, the improved urination device comprises an impervious Grissom piloted Liberty Bell 7, Mercury-Redstone 4, and
receiver adapted to make resilient liquid-tight contact with the technicians integrated a UCD into his suit. In This New Ocean:
wearer’s person around the urinary duct” (24). In his landmark a History of Project Mercury, the authors stated the following:
survey of sexuality in 1948, Alfred C. Kinsey noted that “The “Another welcome addition to the suit was a urine reservoir
English are more or less justly reputed to be the most com- fabricated the day before the flight. Although during his flight,
pletely clothed people in the world, and Americans have been
slow in breaking away from the English tradition” (13).
Before the first Mercury flight, in 1960, the Air Force ASTRONAUTS
sponsored a study on human waste collection in a space SHOULDER
HARNESS
RESTRAINT SYSTEM
capsule. For the Mercury missions, fecal collection was not REELS
UNLOCKED
required, but the study stated that during the Mercury missions
the collection and storage of urine would be required. The SHOULDER
HARNESS
LOCKED

study looked at contemporary literature and devices related to

urine collection and determined that the waste tubes and bottles
HARNESS REELS
used for urine collection in military aircraft were not suffi- CHEST
STRAP
CONTROL HANDLE

ciently reliable due to leakage. Engineers decided that devices DETAIL B

LAP RESTRAINT STRAPS
CONNECTIONS
used in hospitals to collect urine from bed-ridden male patients BELT

were completely adequate and that they were available off the
shelf. The device created a tight seal with the penis to prevent CROTCH HARNESS
leaks and had a backflow prevention device, one that worked in SEE DETAIL A SEE DETAIL B

the laying down position (7). UCDs did exist but do not appear LEG RESTRAINT
ASSEMBLEY
to have been used by NASA in testing or in flight. STRAP ADJUST
FITTING
As soon as B.F. Goodrich delivered the pressure suits to
TOE GUARDS DETAIL A
NASA, technicians put them through rigorous testing. McDonnell
Aircraft Company conducted 257 manned hours of testing on Fig. 2. Illustration of the restraint for an astronaut in the Mercury capsule.
the complete environmental system, including the pressure [From McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, Report no. 8242, October 9, 1961,
suit. Part of the test was a complete 28-h manned test. It must Fig. 22, p. 44.]

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Historical Perspectives
126 FORGOTTEN HARDWARE

and published it in August of 1961. The report is interesting on

many levels, and it encompasses all the primary issues related
to urine collection and storage related to the use of pressure
suits. The unit was to be compatible with a full-pressure suit,
nonirritating to the skin, and comfortable even through normal
body movements. It would collect up to 72 h worth of urine
outside of the suit. According to the author of the study (20),
the difficulty in creating a successful urine collection device
was not the interface with the penis. For the study, they
surveyed the market (as was done for the 1960 study) and
found that simple personal urinals created for people with
impaired bladder control or people without access to public
urinals, such as policemen, already existed and worked well.
For the study, they purchased a rubber urinal from Rexall Drug
Company. What was difficult for the engineers was removing
the urine from inside the pressure suit. Urine would not flow
away from the astronaut without gravity or a difference in
pressure between the suit and the capsule. For the success of
the unit, engineers developed a complex valve to allow the
astronaut to increase the pressure inside the suit during urina-
tion, which would force the urine away from the urinal device,
through the tubing and into the storage container.
John Glenn made the first Mercury orbital flight on February
20, 1962, aboard Friendship 7, Mercury-Atlas 6. After the
previous Mercury flight, the Mercury Progress Report stated
that “A satisfactory UCD has been developed and evaluated for
immediate flight requirements,” and Glenn used it (14a). While
in flight, just before reentry, Glenn voided 800 ml of urine, or
⬃27 oz, into his UCD (a very full bladder) and reported that
his body functioned normally and he experienced normal
Fig. 3. Astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr. (center; seated), command pilot, and
Thomas P. Stafford (center; standing), pilot, Gemini VI prime crew, go sensations (11). Despite what Glenn reported about normal
through suiting up exercises in preparation for their forthcoming flight. The
suit technicians are James Garrepy (left) and Joe Schmitt (right). [From the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Johnson Space Center, Hous-
ton, TX.]

Grissom would find the contraption somewhat binding, it did

work” (26). Possibly, in hopes that he would not need to try out
the new device, technicians withheld Grissom’s morning cof-
fee, knowing that it acts as a diuretic (8). According to popular
history, Dee O’Hara, the medical nurse for the Mercury pro-
gram, went out and bought a condom and a girdle, which she
fashioned together to make a UCD for Grissom to wear during
his flight (30). This story fits nicely with the “can do” spirit of
1950s America; however, Grissom actually wore two pairs of
rubber pants, which contained his urine between the layers
(10). After the flight, NASA agreed, “to make more rigid
demands on urine collection” (29). Mercury Status Report no.
11 for the period ending July 31, 1961, states that “intensive
work has been underway on UCDs and several approaches
have been developed; one such device was successfully used
on the MR-4 flight” (25a). In June of 1961, just before
Grissom’s flight, NASA hired James McBarron to oversee the
existing B.F. Goodrich contract to develop a UCD for the
Mercury astronauts. B.F. Goodrich had earlier produced a
device, but many of the test subjects had rejected it because of
leaks (15).
As mentioned in the historical literature, “little has been
published describing the efficacy and success of in-flight uri-
nation systems” (28). International Latex Corporation, how- Fig. 4. Roll-on-cuff, developed by James McBarron. [From the National Air
ever, prepared a complete technical report for the Air Force and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.]

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 Historical Perspectives
FORGOTTEN HARDWARE 127

sensations, he did pass a far above average amount of urine lems with the UCD that they wore, including poor fit, leaking,
during his single urination in space. There is a large degree of and skin damage from extended contact with urine (28). It is
variation in how much urine each individual’s bladder can the job of the engineer/physiologist to ensure that the man-
hold, with the average being ⬃600 ml or 20 fluid oz (the machine interface promotes the health and safety of the human
current size of a soda bottle). Nerves sense when the bladder is body.
full. Usually we need to urinate when our bladder is one-third Alan Shepard’s flight on May 5, 1961, was soggy and
full, but this stage is often ignored. When the bladder is uncomfortable. Brenda and her friends were right to wonder
two-thirds full, the need “to go” becomes more acute. When about his need “to go.” Shepard’s flight was also successful
the bladder reaches its capacity, you feel pain and discomfort and glorious–America had put a man in space. It would be an
(21). Glenn was not experiencing normal sensations and should oversimplification to state that NASA was wrong for not
have gone sooner. “‘In zero gravity, the urine doesn’t collect at providing Shepard with a UCD; truthfully, it was not “forgot-
the bottom of the bladder. Only when the bladder is almost ten.” NASA had consolidated the various space program ac-
completely full do the sides begin to stretch and trigger the tivities in the U.S. to be victorious in the Space Race. There
urge. And by then the bladder may be so full that it’s pressing was so much new technology to integrate into the space
the urethra shut’” (21). If the bladder is not emptied when full, program during the Cold War, and in times of conflict and
urine may leak out, and repeated episodes of not emptying the exploration, we ask the human body to do more.
bladder when full can result in permanent damage to the
sphincter valves, causing general incontinence. DISCLOSURES
Although Glenn did not understand the physics and physi- No conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared by the author(s).
ology of urination in space, he was wearing the first in a long
series of NASA UCDs. As B.F. Goodrich had not been able to AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
produce a successful UCD, McBarron and his team, consisting Author contributions: H.H. conception and design of research; H.H. drafted
of Al Rochford and Joe Schmitt of the Manned Spaceflight manuscript; H.H. approved final version of manuscript.
Center Suit Laboratory, developed the first successful UCD REFERENCES
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