Chinese Astronauts Will Wear the Thinnest Nappies in Space, And That’s Advanced Tech.

Making a slight deviation from our usual reporting—and because space technology has trickled down to modern cars and commercial space travel is coming albeit in the far future— we are bringing you this interesting bit of news that, who knows, might affect us one day.

According to a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal, Manned Spaceflight, Chinese astronauts have complained that the current nappies that they are provided are “too thick” and “cause a strong sense of pressure on the underside.”

Yes, astronauts wear diapers. NASA’s version is delicately named the “Maximum Absorbency Garment or MAG. While answering nature’s call in space has become easier over the years with improvements to toilets, it’s not easy to just drop those space pants (or more accurately, suits). Wait time for launch can be long; in 1961, Alan Shepard was strapped in for eight hours waiting to get off the ground and he infamously peed in his suit, short-circuiting some of the built-in sensors. And whilst in space, spacewalks can last six to eight hours.

When doing a number 2, the first Men who landed on the moon—we’re talking about Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong and the other guy—had to use fecal collection bags, which they stuck to their behinds with adhesive. In the mission prior to that, there is official record of this conversation taking place among the crew as they prepared to return to earth, while mission control listen in confusion:

Commander Tom Stafford: “Oh…who did it?”

Command Module Pilot John Young: “Who did what?”

Lunar Module Pilot Eugene Cernan: “Where did that come from?”

A moment later, the mystery was revealed to ground control…

Stafford: “Give me a napkin quick…There’s a turd floating through the air.”

They continued to discuss the origins of the turn with no one owning up to it…

The space diapers nappies worn today is a great improvement over past implements. But as the earlier mentioned research paper stated: “As astronauts face increased workloads and much longer working hours, it is critical to research a new product that is more comfortable and easier to wear.”

We might chuckle at the topic, but comfortable absorbent hygiene products (you know, sanitary pads, tampons, baby and adult diapers….) is very important, even here on earth, as anyone who ever had to use one will know.

The company that supplies nappies to the Chinese space agency announced recently that China’s astronauts will now use the thinnest nappies ever in orbit. The new product is a third the thickness of the current one (7mm vs 26mm)  and can hold more than 1kg of urine. Now, that’s advanced technology.