DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFFAstronaut Catherine Coleman, who was inspired by Sally Ride to join NASA, is scheduled to spend six months on the International Space Station next year.
(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)
CATHERINE COLEMAN | G Force
Her work is rocket science
DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFFAstronaut Catherine Coleman, who was inspired by Sally Ride to join NASA, is scheduled to spend six months on the International Space Station next year.
(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)
June 15, 2009
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Sooner or later everyone asks astronaut Catherine Coleman how people pee in space. It's easier than relieving yourself on a camping trip, the 48-year-old MIT and UMass-Amherst graduate says. But even NASA's gravity-free solution wouldn't help with the stress urinary incontinence - think leaks after laughing, sneezing, running - she developed because of a prolapsed uterus and dropped bladder. Her Houston doctor sent her to Mt. Auburn Hospital surgeon Dr. Peter Rosenblatt, who in 2005 performed a laparoscopic pelvic reconstruction. Coleman encourages other women to consider surgery, exercises, biofeedback, or all three rather than put up with the common post-childbirth problem, even if they aren't slated to work for six months on the International Space Station starting in November 2010. Here is an edited version of an interview last week, before her visit to MIT's 40th anniversary celebration of the first moon landing. ELIZABETH COONEY
Q. So how do you pee in space?
A. Up in space we use a vacuum. I always tell kids it's not something you want to try at home with your vacuum cleaner. Ours is very different, with a special attachment to stick on top of a hose.
Q. Incontinence in space sounds unworkable.
A. Going to space is challenging enough. I didn't want it to be a source of apprehension for me, so it was just pretty thrilling that we could shore up my foundation, with the culmination of materials, medicine, and people skills.
Q. How did you go from studying chemistry, polymer science, and engineering to joining the space program?
A. I was in the Air Force - they paid for my undergraduate education and I owed them four years - and I always wanted a job that involved science and engineering, but also had some people interaction and some adventure. I met Sally Ride [the first American woman in space] when she spoke at MIT. I said I think I'd like that job.
Q. Any concerns about the space program's survival?
A. Going to space is all of our business because we live in the universe. I think of it as the neighborhood. I just don't think you can take the exploring nature out of human beings. I can't see how exploration will not continue.
Q. What do you do in space?
A. We're amazingly, astoundingly busy. We are giant lab rats up there, doing about 20 different medical experiments and other experiments on materials that can only be done in zero gravity.
Q. Did you see the first moon landing on TV?
A. I didn't. I was 8 years old and my mother woke my 9-year-old brother up and not me. She is still paying a big price.
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