Age Old Question, Do Astronauts Wear Diapers

[wetd]

in fact yes. i saw it on discovery channel the other day. astronauts do in fact wear diapers( their exact words) while on their 8 hr long space walks. just thought I'd bring that to everyone's attention.

[toddmdl]

I have to ask the question: How did Buzz Aldrin become the first man to pee on the moon?

[Brutal]

I have to ask the question: How did Buzz Aldrin become the first man to pee on the moon?

If he was probably the first man to wear a diaper on the moon and the first man to have a wet diaper on the moon. My uncle flew the long range spy planes and they issued him diapers for the flights... along with "GO PILLS" which were amphetamines to keep him awake since he was up there for longer than 24 hours. They did mid-air refueling. One of the reasons the flight suits unzip in both directions is so that pilots could pull the crotch zipper up and pee in a little "go bottle".

But when you are flying in cramped conditions they'd rather you take a leak in an adult diaper and not take your hands or focus off the very valuable aircraft.

In the movies, a cockpit looks huge, but in real life it's extremely tiny and cramped with tons of gadgets. The reasons pilots had to be thin was to fit inside. Check out the smithsonian exhibit and you'll see that Chuck Yeager and the Yuri's (russian) cosmonaughts flight suits were small (hence they weren't the 6 foot tall linebacker giants the media made them out to be).

Truckers wear diapers and I've also heard that deep sea divers do as well (Those wearing dry suits). But I am not a diver and I can't confirm that.

I think a funny pro-diaper campaign would be "All of this centuries greatest heroes have worn adult diapers" Fade to Buzz Alderin and Neil Armstrong, put up some photos of U-2 pilots, etc. At the very least, it would be intersesting.

While in London, I heard that King George abdicated to run off with the Nanny. And that he had a baby fixation. I don't know if it's true. Can anyone confirm this?

-Brutal

[justindiapers]

While in London, I heard that King George abdicated to run off with the Nanny. And that he had a baby fixation. I don't know if it's true. Can anyone confirm this?

None of the King Georges ever abdicated, as far as I know. Edward VIII is probably who you're thinking of, he abdicated so he could marry a American woman... but I don't think she was a nanny.

[Brutal]

None of the King Georges ever abdicated, as far as I know. Edward VIII is probably who you're thinking of, he abdicated so he could marry a American woman... but I don't think she was a nanny.

Yes, you are right. It was King Edward the VIII. I had been told that he was forced to resign for the American Divorcee he wanted to marry and that she was a dominatrix type with him. And that he had been a known infantalist. Of course, that's hearsay. When I heard about it, I hadn't thought to research it because back in the day 15 years ago... we didn't have the internet. I did find a few sites that proliferate the contention that he was ABDL.

However, most are concerned with the fact he was deemed "Pro-Nazi" or held "Nazi Sympathies" and was removed from France to be the Governor of Bermuda. Oh the horrors! Not Bermuda!

-Brutal

[anondl]

My uncle flew the long range spy planes and they issued him diapers for the flights...

-Brutal

I thought they had "relief tubes" on those things(SR71?), at least for urination. I guess that doesn't solve the poop problem but I am fairly regular and after the morning ritual I don't have to worry about that till the next day.

Not that I would refuse a diaper.

[anondl]

Alan Shepard, our first man into space (suborbital) for his flight was delayed on the launch pad, had to pee. They didn't have diapers for astronaughts then. The ground controlers told him pee in his suit. Imagine sitting in a straight back chair, laying on your back and peeing with no diaper on. Now add a few hours. It had to suck. Oh, the biomedical scientist did have the foresight to stick a thermometer up his butt for the flight.

[zoe]

I knew I wanted to be an astronaut. That or a race car driver.

[anondl]

I knew I wanted to be an astronaut. That or a race car driver.

I have always assumed that athletes of any sort sweated enough to not have to pee.

[Yvhuce]

If he was probably the first man to wear a diaper on the moon and the first man to have a wet diaper on the moon. My uncle flew the long range spy planes and they issued him diapers for the flights... along with "GO PILLS" which were amphetamines to keep him awake since he was up there for longer than 24 hours. They did mid-air refueling. One of the reasons the flight suits unzip in both directions is so that pilots could pull the crotch zipper up and pee in a little "go bottle".

But when you are flying in cramped conditions they'd rather you take a leak in an adult diaper and not take your hands or focus off the very valuable aircraft.

In the movies, a cockpit looks huge, but in real life it's extremely tiny and cramped with tons of gadgets. The reasons pilots had to be thin was to fit inside. Check out the smithsonian exhibit and you'll see that Chuck Yeager and the Yuri's (russian) cosmonaughts flight suits were small (hence they weren't the 6 foot tall linebacker giants the media made them out to be).

Truckers wear diapers and I've also heard that deep sea divers do as well (Those wearing dry suits). But I am not a diver and I can't confirm that.

I think a funny pro-diaper campaign would be "All of this centuries greatest heroes have worn adult diapers" Fade to Buzz Alderin and Neil Armstrong, put up some photos of U-2 pilots, etc. At the very least, it would be intersesting.

While in London, I heard that King George abdicated to run off with the Nanny. And that he had a baby fixation. I don't know if it's true. Can anyone confirm this?

-Brutal

Also, those diving in cold waters. There's an episode of Dirty Jobs where Mike helps them retrieve a truck from a frozen lake and asks them about what to do if they have to go to the bathroom. They reply that they use Depends. Mike admits that he'd've worn an adult diaper if he'd known that, since he had been drinking coffee all morning.

[Bettypooh]

For Shuttle missions, each Astronaut is issued 3 "MAG's" (Maximum absorbency garments). One is for take-off, one is for landing, and one is extra in case the landing is aborted Many professionals wear diapers, from security staff who can't leave their post to race drivers and even politicians Strom Thurmond filibustered for 24 hours once (and that record may still be unbroken) It wasn't spoken of openly but many of his cohorts asked him how he did it afterwards and he replied that he'd worn a diaper that he had his wife make for him, this being long before adult disposables. Since then, filibustering is also jokingly called "putting on the diaper" in DC As with incontinence, diapering for professional need occurs but isn't much spoken of openly. If it seems that a diaper would be helpful in someone's business then someone is already using one there. You have to wonder what these people did prior to disposables and the general avability of adult-sized plastic panties. I've spoken to some old timers who flew bombers in WW2 and they had to tough it out once they were over enemy territory- with long hours, no heat, and the high altitudes flown getting wet meant freezing whatever got wet- a lot of these guys lost limbs from freezing. If you were a ball turret gunner you got into your shell before takeoff and were stuck there till you were back over England. It took about 3 minutes and a couple other guys to get a ball gunner out of his turret in the air so he was usually stuck there 5+ hours- often longer. If the plane went down the ball gunner always went with it- it took a lot of guts to handle that job! Some of these guys may have been diapered if they could have gotten rubber sheeting to cover it but with war shortages that would be very unlikely

Some truckers wear diapers but those numbers are pretty low. Their usual is a pee bottle, either made for road use and emptied when convienent or plastic soda bottles which they cap and throw out the window, hence their common name 'trucker torpedos'. These have been happened upon by littter pick-up people in the hot sun and when you disturb them they can explode covering the hapless cleaner in pee Condom catheters have made it easy for many guys to do things they would have had problems doing otherwise, but similar technology that actually works well isn't there for the girls I'll always be amazed at how well most girls hold 'it', something I've never had the ability to do. It limited my career choices but today it wouldn't have to- it is a far better world in a lot of ways and I'd never want to go back to an earlier time.

Bettypooh

[Dougie]

When I worked as a computer field service tech several years ago diapers would have been useful at times. I would have to drive all over the Portland metro area, usually in heavy traffic. Several times I would be crossing my legs until I got to my next stop and use their restroom. A few times I almost didn't make it, but it was very close. If I still had a job like that one today, I would just wear a Bambino to work and change it at one of my stops if I had to use it.

[ranger]

I have always assumed that athletes of any sort sweated enough to not have to pee.

Sorry to be a spoil sport on this one, but, anondl is right about race car drivers. I have seen several answer the question about going to the bathroom (Michael Waltrip, Carl Edwards, and a few others I can't remember). Anyway, the answer has always been the sweat factor. They sweat so much all that water and gatorade is sweated out before it hits the bladder.

As far as astronauts go, I heard Dr. David Wolf (a veteran NASA astronaut) say on the Bob and Tom Show that their diapers aren't much different than off the shelf disposables.

[DprDJeff]

There is one career that requires the use of adult diapers for safety... Underwater welder. Something about any leakage inside the dry suit could cause death, because they are welding with electricity while surrounded in water.

[rusty pins]

Alan Shepard, our first man into space (suborbital) for his flight was delayed on the launch pad, had to pee. They didn't have diapers for astronaughts then. The ground controlers told him pee in his suit. Imagine sitting in a straight back chair, laying on your back and peeing with no diaper on. Now add a few hours. It had to suck. Oh, the biomedical scientist did have the foresight to stick a thermometer up his butt for the flight.

It's true that Alan Sheppard did wet in his space suit waiting for the first US manned launch that had been delayed. The situation is depicted in the movie "The Right STuff", but what wasn't explained was that the oxygin and air circulating through his space suit evaporated the moisture almost immediatly. Alan Sheppard was dry almost as soon as he finished peeing in his suit.

It's also true about relief tubes in WW2 airplanes, at least the fighter planes. If you read Chuck Yeagers books, he talks about remembering to pee before getting into his plane because at high altitudes the relief tube freezes and becomes useless.

I've known that astronauts do wear diapers when they need them in space. Not necessarily in the shuttle or space station when they are in the pressurized cabin and living quarters, but when they have to go out on space walks to repair equipment like the Hubble Telescope or do rehab work outside the space station they wear diapers. In the lunar landings, I am not sure if the lander was pressurized or not. I don't know if Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldren and the other 10 astronauts who walked on the moon had to wear their space suit all the time or if they could take it off inside the lander. If you think about it, there is no "Porta-Potty" on the moon. You can't just "whip it out" and pee whenever you need to! With the number of days some moon missions lasted, I would assume that they had to have some way of removing their helmuts and suits to eat, drink and change their diapers. I'd hate to think that they would be wearing and using the same diaper for several days on the moon! Especially later missions when they had that lunar rover, the car that they drove on the lunar surface! Come to think of it, Alan Sheppard was not only the first man to hit a golf ball on the moon but probably also the first man to golf in diapers on the moon!

I also know that the astronats brought back many moon rocks and samples from the lunar surface but also left some equipment on the moon. American flags, the landing gear for the lunar lander and some other stuff as well. I'm pretty sure it never happened but I'd hate to think that they left their dirty diapers on the moon to dispose of them! Just think, Armstrong and Aldrin may have been the first 2 people to litter the moon with disposable diapers! Not only are we filling the landfills on earth with disposable diapers but we may have also started disposing of them on the moon, too! Frankly, I don't think that happened. They were probably ordered to bring home their dirty diapers so sientists could study the effects of wetting and pooping in diapers on the moon's gravity and zero atmosphere!

[d_drew12]

in fact yes. i saw it on discovery channel the other day. astronauts do in fact wear diapers( their exact words) while on their 8 hr long space walks. just thought I'd bring that to everyone's attention.

In short, yes but apparently you already knew that.

I have said this before, on the "As unusual as we think" thread I believe. I'd be willing to bet there are more continent diaper users who aren't ab's or dl's than are continent people who are ab's or dl's. There are so many people who use them for other reasons than fetish. The number of diapers us ab/dl types use is small pickins when compared to the number used by incontinent individuals or even these other people we've talked about, scuba, astronaut, drivers, party goers, pranksters, etc. to name a few.

[Repaid1]

There is one career that requires the use of adult diapers for safety... Underwater welder. Something about any leakage inside the dry suit could cause death, because they are welding with electricity while surrounded in water.

That one I take issue with, as a Electronic engineer. If the dry suit protects them for temperature and water from the outside. It would do the same to water on the inside. Or pee as it were. No Electrical connection could be completed from the outside welding probes to the inside of the suit, whether peed or not...and that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I would however not doubt that they do use them for the purpose intended, due to a lengthy dive or for a deeper depth dive.

My Grandmother was a underwater welder. I remember when she told me she did that. No mention of diapers mind you. She told me she made $4 something a hour which I guess back then was some good money. When I told her that they can make hundreds now a dive, I about killed her. Miss ya Grandma!!!

[ultrapampers]

The original space diapers, called Maximum Absorbency Garments or MAGs (as Bettypooh mentioned, and in keeping with NASA's fondness for acronyms), were expensive, custom-made absorbent underwear. Later, NASA decided they could use an off-the-shelf disposable diaper. Contrary to rumor, they don't use Depend brand--they use a brand called Absorbencies which is no longer available. However, NASA purchased a stockpile of 3200 diapers, of which I'd guess about 1000 remain.

Just curious: Has anybody here every tried the Absorbencies brand? I can't find any other references or pictures of them.

The original MAG:

Absorbencies MAG (adult diaper):

Source: LA Times NASA Diapers Story