There has been a really unusual problem in the International Space Station (ISS). The one and only toilet of ISS has been broken. Imagine how difficult the situation can be when astronomers cannot go to toilet and Nasa is not able to send a service man up there..

Ok, it is not that tragic anymore. The toilet is ISS got broken last week and the crew was first forced to use the toilet facilities of Soyuz but can now use the main toilet as it has been repaired by replacing a micro-processor valve. Although the toilet can be used now, it is still broken. There are several backup solutions available, so no worry guys.

Discovery will fly to ISS next week and currently it seems that Discovery will carry some extra toilet parts. Meanwhile ground specialists will continue troubleshooting the problem and station crew continue preparing for the arrival of STS-124. Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman have been practicing photography techniques they will use when filming the Rendezvouz Pitch Manouver of STS-124. If you wonder what the “Rendezvouz Pitch Manouver” means, it is a “back-flip” performed before docking with the station. The reason for photographing Discovery is to analyze if heat shields have broken during lift-off.

Oh boy, next week we will be able to watch directly the lift-off of STS-124. I guess I will have some troubles to do my work because every now and then I need to watch Nasa TV. I have watched several lift-offs directly after Nasa launched their TV in the Internet. Nasa TV is one of those great things Internet can offer. 10 years ago I could have not imagined that in few years I will be able to watch STS flights directly on my computer. Man, these things develop so fast..

If you are one of my daily readers, you probably have noticed that I have not been blogging actively lately. I have been too busy with my job and family. There have been so many things ongoing that my blogging has suffered very much. Another reason for my blogging hiatus is that here on northern hemisphere we suffer from the lack of dark nights. For example in Finland the Sun does not set at all on midsummer. Because of this amateur astronomers of northern countries don’t go stargazing that much on summer time. This applies with me as well. I hope I will be able to stick to my blogging pace in the future and avoid these breaks.