So.  heh.  Did someone have trouble reading the directions?

The toilet is breaking up on the space station and there is only one.  There isn't a hardware store nearby where you can go buy a new wax seal you know,.  If you need a replacement for it, it's gotta be flown up there.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - After being rushed in from Russia, a toilet pump was loaded into space shuttle Discovery on Thursday just in time for this weekend's liftoff to the international space station, where the lone commode is acting up. - [yahoo news]

I wonder if it was small enough to be considered carry-on or if they had to check it.

The toilet isn't completely broken luckily.  Just the urine pump.

While the three space station residents are eager to see the Kibo lab, the bathroom situation has become a more pressing issue. For the past week, the two Russian and one American men have had to periodically manually flush the urine side of the Russian-built toilet. The job takes 10 minutes and requires two people.

Just reminds me of the quotes about the Apollo capsules being flying outhouses.

One of the Apollo 7 astronauts said the smell was so bad it woke him out of a deep sleep. - [linky]

ick.