Jeff Bezos doesn't want his Blue Origin passengers to poop or pee in space
Ted S. Warren/AP; NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio; Business Insider
Speaking to a crowd at a conference in Colorado Springs, Bezos said that the trip on his company's New Shepard tourist spacecraft will be so quick that urinating and defecating won't be an issue, according to Space.com.
"Go to the bathroom in advance," Bezos said, in a quote highlighted by Gizmodo. "The whole thing, from boarding until you're back on the ground, is probably 40 or 41 minutes. So you're going to be fine. You could dehydrate ever so slightly if you have a weak bladder."
While 41 minutes doesn't seem like too long to hold it - especially with a tech billionaire warning you to use the facilities ahead of time like an earnest dad on I-95 - space travel comes with some stresses that can make it difficult to keep bodily functions under control.
Astronauts who make the trip to space often relieve themselves into diapers due to the lack of bathroom access at many stages of the experience. To address this problem, NASA once launched the Space Poop Challenge, which awarded $15,000 to a man who figured out a clever way to build a suction-based bathroom device into a spacesuit. Astronauts also tend to vomit, another issue Bezos is convinced won't be an issue for his tourists.
Interested as he is in the challenge of sending wealthy joyriders beyond the atmosphere, Bezos seems happy to resort to the tried-and-true, low-tech "Wait till the next rest stop!" method.
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post and is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.
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