In space, nobody can hear you crossing your legs.
The toilet systems on the International Space Station have been playing up for the last few days with the waste/gas seperator pump of the liquid waste handler failing to function. The toilet system is a Russian design built into the Zvezda core module. I’m unsure as to whether this toilet is a descendant of those fitted to the last century’s Salyut design of which Zvezda is a variant (DOS-8)
Seemingly the cosmonauts and astronaut could go for a “number 2″ on the ISS loo but would have to refrain from a “number 1″.
In the mean time, the Soyuz capsule systems have been used but they only have enough capacity for a few days use. The ultimate fallback would probably be the Apollo-era tried and tested ’sealy-bag’ method.
A NASA engineer is reported to be flying from Russia at the moment with a 16kg replacement pump in his hand luggage. On arrival at Kennedy Space Center, this pump will be taken directly to Space Shuttle Discovery which is already on the pad in preparation for lift-on on STS-124 to the ISS on Saturday.
In the mean time, unconfirmed reports suggest that curry may be off the menu. 
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