Astronauts Contain Sewer Woes

A clogged space shuttle sewer had Endeavour’s astronauts “working like dogs” Sunday as their trouble-filled mission drew to a smelly close.

Instead of packing for today’s scheduled trip home, the astronauts found themselves draining urine and other waste from a storage tank into a smaller emergency container.

“The phrase ‘working like dogs’ has taken on an entirely new meaning for us,” shuttle commander David Walker said.

Long before their flight began 11 days ago, Endeavour’s five astronauts nicknamed themselves the Dog Crew to relieve the tension and have some fun.

The plumbing job fell to James Voss and Michael Gernhardt, who the day before had walked in space.

The two tried to bypass the clogged filter so waste water in the main storage tank could be dumped. When that failed, they drained some of the liquid in the tank into a container about the size of a duffel bag.

Nothing spilled, but they were left with a urine odor, Voss said.

Mission Control said there would be enough room on board to store waste water even if Endeavour’s landing was delayed. Good weather was expected for the scheduled 4:38 a.m. PDT touchdown at the Kennedy Space Center; the only concern was possible fog.